AT  THE  FRONT 
IN  A  FLIVVER 

WILLIAM   YORKE   STEVENSON 


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AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A   FLIVVER 


IIEUT.   MARQUIS   ROBEP.T   DE  KERSAUSON  DE  PENNENDREFF 

Commanding  ?»ction  Snnitaire  Amt^ricaine  N".  1 


AT  THE   FRONT  IN 
^  A  FLIVVER 


WILLIAM  YORKE  STEVENSON 

Section  No.  1,  American  Ambulance 
WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
(Cbe  tUtex^iHt  pte90  Cambridge 


COPYRIGHT,    I917,    BY   WILLIAM   YORKE   STEVENSON 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  Septtmher  tqtf 


PREFACE 

In  presenting  the  following  diary  to 
the  public,  a  few  words  of  introduction 
may  not  seem  superfluous.  The  writer  is 
a  young  American  who  usually  is  not  given 
to  self-expression,  although  a  number  of 
articles  from  his  pen  have  been  published 
in  various  magazines,  and  a  book  of  early 
sporting  experiences  was  published  by  Al- 
temus,  some  years  ago,  under  the  title  Joys 
of  Sports.  On  March  1,  1916,  he  left  his 
family  and  his  position  as  financial  editor 
on  a  Philadelphia  newspaper,  because  he 
felt  strongly  this  country's  attitude  with 
regard  to  the  war,  and  wished  to  join  the 
few  volunteers  who  then  sought,  as  far 
as  in  their  power  lay,  to  pay  the  debt  of 
service  which  this  nation  owed  to  France. 
He  kept  a  rough  diary  which,  as  the  occa- 
sion offered,  he  forwarded  to  his  people. 
It  was  written  offhand,  without  the  re- 
motest idea  of  its  publication.  It  is  this 
that  constitutes  its  value  at  this  time. 


vi  PREFACE 

Any  one  who  has  made  it  his  business  to 
read  every  book  hitherto  pubHshed  by  cor- 
respondents and  others  will  realize  how 
few  there  are  in  which  can  be  found  so 
many  practical  details  of  the  things  one 
wants  to  know,  or  which  give  so  realistic 
a  view  of  the  war  at  close  range,  with  its 
strange  mixture  of  horrors,  pleasures,  and 
realities,  divested  of  all  literary  effort  or 
desire  to  impress. 

These  notes  are  here  published  almost  as 
jotted  down  at  odd  times,  here  and  there, 
where  the  man  happened  to  be.  Only  a  few 
entries  felt  to  be  unprintable  have  been 
omitted,  and  a  few  expletives  which  slipped 
in  when  under  a  fever  of  excitement  in 
action. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  diary  offers  a 
glimpse  of  real  life  at  the  Front  —  quite 
different  from  the  view  obtained  by  the 
personally  conducted  visitor  —  as  lived 
by  the  men  who  are  doing  duty.  As  such, 
it  may  be  of  use  to  our  young  men  about 
to  enter  upon  the  great  adventure.  The 
reader  will  find  in  it  no  heroics,  no  attempt 
at  a  pose,  no  desire  to  magnify  the  work 


PREFACE  vii 

or  its  dangers.  It  is  but  fair,  therefore, 
to  supplement  the  young  man's  simple 
statement  of  facts,  by  publishing,  along 
with  the  diary,  a  letter  written  to  a 
member  of  his  family  by  Mr.  John  H. 
McFadden,  Jr.,  who,  in  charge  of  the  De- 
partment of  Equipment  of  the  American 
Ambulance  Field  Service,  visited  his  Sec- 
tion in  September  last,  at  a  time  when 
the  strain  of  work  was  probably  not  at 
its  worst,  and  yet  was  described  by  him 
as  follows:  — 

September  9, 1916. 

My  dear  Mrs.  S.:  — 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Section 
No.  1,  where  Yorke  is,  and  although  he  prob- 
ably has  written  to  you  describing  his  work,  he 
also  probably  has  omitted  a  good  deal,  owing 
to  the  fact  of  his  being  a  member  of  the  Sec- 
tion. After  seeing  the  extraordinary  work 
that  those  boys  are  doing  up  there,  I  felt  that 
I  would  like  to  write  to  you  and  tell  you  all 
about  it. 

A  good  many  of  the  Sections  are  now  living 
under  canvas  and  have  often  found  difficulty 
in  finding  a  suitable  place  to  cook.  So  that  we 
have  had  built  a  kitchen  on  two  wheels  which 


viii  PREFACE 

is  pulled  along  by  a  big  two- ton  White  truck 
used  for  sitting  cases,  and  the  real  reason  of 
my  visit  was  to  leave  one  with  Section  No.  1. 
As  it  happens,  they  are  situated  at  the  present 
moment  in  a  splendid  chateau  (the  Chateau 
de  Billemont)  about  four  kilometers  outside 
of  Verdun.  Up  to  a  few  weeks  ago  it  was  the 
headquarters  of  some  French  officers,  but  the 
Germans,  having  got  hold  of  the  fact,  shelled 
them  out,  so  that  it  has  made  an  ideal  place 
for  our  men. 

The  "poste  de  secours"  to  which  they  are 
attached  is  six  kilometers  the  other  side  of 
Verdun;  and  since  ten  days  before  my  arrival, 
and  during  my  stay,  the  French  have  been 
doing  incessant  attacking  and  counter-attack- 
ing, and  the  work  of  carrying  the  wounded 
has  been  practically  continuous  night  and  day. 

On  going  to  the  "poste  de  secours"  from 
the  chateau,  you  pass  through  Verdun  and 
continue  on  a  wide,  level  road  for  about  one 
kilometer,  and  then  you  start  up  a  very  steep 
hill,  which  continues  right  to  the  "poste  de 
secours,"  for  five  kilometers.  This  road  is 
very  narrow  and  sufficiently  dangerous  from  a 
driving  point  of  view  apart  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  shelled  continuously  day  and  night.  In 
fact,  the  duty  of  Townsend,  Section  Director, 
is  to  go  out  every  morning  at  daybreak  with  a 
couple  of  men  and  fill  up  the  holes  which  have 


PREFACE  ix 

been  made  during  the  hours  of  darkness,  so 
that  our  cars  will  not  fall  into  them. 

The  "poste"  itself  is  only  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  from  Fort  St.  Michel,  which,  of 
course,  accounts  for  the  attention  which  that 
part  of  the  country  gets  from  the  German  ar- 
tillery. Besides  this,  the  whole  valley  and  hill- 
sides are  covered  with  French  batteries,  and 
the  din  at  the  top  of  the  hill  makes  it  impos- 
sible to  talk  in  anything  like  an  ordinary  voice. 

The  day  driving  is  comparatively  nothing. 
The  fact  that  every  car  has  been  hit  has  made 
no  impression  whatsoever  on  the  men.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  by  this  that  they  are  in  the 
least  bit  reckless  or  foolhardy  —  on  the  con- 
trary, they  take  all  possible  precautions;  but 
when  there  is  anything  to  be  done,  it  is  car- 
ried out  without  question. 

The  part,  however,  for  which  they  de- 
serve all  the  praise  that  we  can  give  them, 
is  for  their  driving  at  night.  Naturally,  no 
lights  are  allowed,  and  I  have  never  seen  a 
country  that  can  produce  darker  nights  than 
that  district.  You  can  try  and  imagine  start- 
ing from  the  top  of  that  hill  with  a  car  full 
of  wounded,  driving  down  a  narrow  hillside 
road  in  a  blackness  impenetrable  for  more 
than  a  yard.  If  it  were  not  for  the  light  given 
by  the  firing  of  the  guns  and  hand-grenades, 
the  work  would  be  well-nigh  impossible. 


X  PREFACE 

What  makes  it  more  difficult  still  is,  that  it 
is  at  night  that  all  the  traffic  starts  and  the 
ammunition  is  brought  up  to  the  various  bat- 
teries, and  continually  you  are  finding  a  team  of 
horses  almost  on  the  top  of  the  car  before  you 
have  any  idea  of  their  presence.  The  round 
trip  from  the  "poste  de  secours"  to  the  hos- 
pital takes  from  two  hours  and  a  half  to  three 
hours,  which  averages  a  speed  of  about  ten 
kilometers  an  hour.  This  will  give  you  an  idea 
how  slowly  one  has  to  go. 

As  I  said  in  the  beginning,  this  Section  had 
been  doing  this  work  for  ten  days  before  I  got 
there,  and  yet  there  was  not  the  slightest  sign 
of  fatigue  or  impatience.  I  doubt  if  any  man 
in  the  Section  during  that  time  had  had  five 
hours'  consecutive  sleep.  But  far  from  shirking 
what  they  had  to  do,  they  were  each  and  every 
one  of  them  attempting  more  than  their  share. 
One  night,  for  example,  the  Medecin  Chef 
who  had  charge  of  the  "poste,"  received  word 
to  prepare  for  an  unusual  number  of  wounded 
on  account  of  an  expected  attack,  and  fear- 
ing that  Section  No.  1  might  not  be  able  to 
handle  the  situation  alone,  he  called  out  a 
French  Section  which  was  in  Verdun  as 
reserve.  I  can  assure  you  that  no  deeper  in- 
sult could  have  been  offered  to  poor  Towns- 
end,  and  every  man  in  the  Section  worked 
double  time  that  night.    Needless  to  say  the 


PREFACE  id 

French  Section  stayed  where  it  was  —  "In 
reserve."  The  idea  that  any  situation  was  too 
big  for  them  to  handle  was  something  not  to 
be  thought  of. 

No  matter  how  carefully  a  man  drives  at 
night,  a  number  of  accidents  are  bound  to  oc- 
cur. In  one  night,  there  were  six.  Of  course, 
these  are  minor  accidents  and  the  damage 
can  be  repaired  in  a  fairly  short  time.  For 
instance,  the  White  Camion  one  night  went 
into  a  ditch;  two  cars  went  head-on  into  each 
other  in  the  darkness ;  two  more  cars  went  into 
ditches,  and  another  fell  into  a  shell  hole. 

Occasionally,  of  course,  something  occurs 
which  will  put  a  car  out  of  commission  for 
three  or  four  days,  and  that  means  that  the 
Section  is  that  much  short.  If  this  sort  of 
thing  happens  too  often,  the  authorities  get 
impatient  and  threaten  to  replace  the  incom- 
plete Section  by  a  complete  one  —  which,  of 
course,  almost  breaks  the  hearts  of  our  fel- 
lows; and  it  occurs  to  me  that  it  would  be  a 
splendid  thing  if  we  could  have  one  or  two 
cars  in  reserve  for  each  Section,  to  prevent 
this  contingency  ever  happening. 

Just  briefly,  I  have  tried  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible to  give  you  an  exact  picture  of  the  work 
that  Yorke  and  the  rest  of  the  fellows  in  Sec- 
tion No.  1  are  doing.  Without  exaggeration, 
and  without  any  idea  of  blood-curdling  stories. 


rii  PREFACE 

it  really  impressed  me  as  so  tremendously 
fine,  that  I  did  not  feel  that  we  were  giving 
them  all  the  praise  they  deserve. 

I  hope  you  have  not  found  this  letter  too 
long  and  will  not  think  that  I  am  bothering 
you  too  much,  but  nothing  that  I  can  say  can 
give  you  an  idea  of  how  splendid  those  boys 
are,  and  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  nothing 
should  be  left  untried  to  give  them  all  the  as- 
sistance in  our  power. 

Hoping  that  you  are  well,  I  remain 
Very  sincerely  yours. 

Jack  McFadden. 

For  service  even  more  exposing  than 
that  described  by  Mr.  McFadden,  ren- 
dered on  the  11th  of  July,  1916,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  gas  attack  in  the  battle  for 
Souville-Tavannes,  the  entire  Section  1 
had  already  been  cited  before  the  Division 
of  the  Second  Army  to  which  it  was  at- 
tached. A  second  citation  was  given  the 
Section  for  the  work  referred  to  in  Mr. 
McFadden's  letter,  which  was  the  battle 
for  Fleury,  when  again  the  entire  Section 
so  distinguished  itself.  This  time,  how- 
ever, it  was  cited  before  the  Army.  Along 
with  these  official  citations  some  wonder- 


PREFACE  xiii 

ful  letters  were  addressed  to  Lieutenant 
de  Kersauson  de  Pennendreff  by  the  sur- 
geons in  charge  of  the  "poste  de  secours" 
and  those  who  were  in  charge  of  the  San- 
itary Service  to  which  the  Section  was 
attached.  Since  then,  the  newspapers  have 
reported  a  third  citation  for  the  Section; 
and  recently,  when  Hon.  A.  Piatt  An- 
drew, for  his  distinguished  service  to 
France,  was  awarded  the  Cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  he  chose  to  receive  it 
with  Section  1,  because  it  is  the  oldest 
of  the  American  Sections,  and  because  he 
drove  with  it  before  he  became  the  head 
of  the  American  Ambulance  Field  Service. 
General  Ragueneau,  of  General  Ni- 
velle's  Staff,  performed  the  ceremony, 
which  took  place  in  the  fine  courtyard 
of  a  splendid  sixteenth -century  chateau, 
in  which  Section  1  was  then  quartered. 
Troops  formed  three  sides  of  a  square,  and 
the  "  ambulanciers  "  the  fourth.  Fate  was 
propitious,  and  the  weather  was  the  only 
sunny  weather  they  had  enjoyed  since 
the  winter  had  set  in.  The  big  guns  were 
loudly    booming,  and    German   aviators 


jdv  PREFACE 

were  dropping  bombs  on  the  village  just 
outside  the  chateau,  also  in  the  river  near 
their  dining-tent :  quite  a  glorious  staging 
for  a  scene  of  this  kind. 

After  the  ceremony,  Major  Andrew,  as 
he  is  now  called,  presented  the  Section 
with  a  section  flag  of  blue  silk,  edged  with 
gold  fringe,  with  the  American  eagle  in  the 
center.  In  the  top  corner  is  pinned  the 
Croix  de  Guerre,  with  the  two  stars,  which 
mean  that  the  Section  has  been  twice 
cited  before  the  Army.  A^  a  fact,  now,  it 
should  be  three  stars,  as  recently  it  has 
received  a  third  citation,  which,  for  the 
present,  again  places  Section  1  at  the  head 
of  all  the  American  Sections,  a  proud  posi- 
tion which  it  occupied  last  autumn  with 
two  citations.  Later,  however.  Section  8 
caught  up  to  it.  But  to  return  to  the  flag 
bestowed  upon  it  by  Major  Andrew:  in 
the  other  corners  are  inscribed  the  names 
of  the  battles  in  which  the  Section  has  fig- 
ured: Ypres,  Dunkerque,  Somme,  Verdun, 
Argonne,  Aisne,  and  so  on:  a  proud  record, 
to  be  sure. 

After  the  customary  ceremony,  the  Gen- 


PREFACE  XV 

eral  advanced  toward  the  young  drivers, 
who  were  introduced  to  him  by  name,  and 
whose  hands  he  shook.  He  afterwards 
invited  some  of  the  older  men  to  join 
him  and  the  Staff  in  a  glass  of  wine.  He 
made  them  a  most  complimentary  speech, 
which  ended  a  pleasant  as  well  as  most 
honorable  experience. 

Having  come  back  to  this  country  on 
furlough  to  spend  Christmas  at  home, 
Mr.  Stevenson  returned  to  France  on 
March  4,  1917,  and  upon  arrival  in  Paris 
found  that  his  Lieutenant,  the  Marquis 
Robert  de  Kersauson  de  Pennendreff ,  had 
kept  his  place  for  him  in  the  Section; 
he  at  once,  therefore,  returned  to  Verdun 
to  join  his  squad.  Section  1  shortly  after- 
wards was  transferred  to  Champagne  and 
the  Aisne  where  the  heaviest  fighting  of 
the  war  was  then  expected  to  take  place. 
Since  then  that  expectation  bids  fair  to 
be  realized. 

Mr.  McFadden  recently  returned  to 
France  after  a  most  successful  money- 
raising  campaign  in  this  country,  through 
which  the  American  "  Ambulanciers,"  who 


xvi  PREFACE 

for  nearly  three  years  have  been  keeping 
up  the  honor  of  this  country  on  the  fight- 
ing line,  will  be  provided  with  proper  cars 
and  equipment.  They  deserve  it  well. 
And  Hon.  A.  Piatt  Andrew,  Henry  D. 
Sleeper,  of  Boston,  who  represents  the  work 
in  this  country,  and  Mr.  John  H.  McFad- 
den,  of  Philadelphia,  should  be  congrat- 
ulated upon  the  splendid  support  which 
they  have  obtained  for  those  remarkable 
American  volunteer  boys. 

One  can  but  regret  that  the  now  his- 
toric "Ambulance  No.  10"  will  appear  no 
more  in  the  annals  of  the  Field  Service. 
It  has  done  noble  work,  however,  and 
should  have  a  decent  burial  in  some 
American  War  Museum.  The  celebrated 
*' Flivver,"  or  "Tin  Lizzie,"  as  our  diarist 
calls  her,  should  not  be  allowed  to  end  on 
a  scrap-heap.  Who  can  estimate  the  num- 
ber of  lives  she  has  helped  to  save.'^  She  is 
a  veteran,  and  deserves  an  honorable 
ending.  We  should  not  be  ungrateful  to  a 
thing  which  has  served  us  so  faithfully. 

We,  who  for  so  long  remained  out  of  the 
conflict,  should  never  forget  the  debt  of 


PREFACE  xvii 

gratitude  which  we  owe  to  these  young 
fellows  of  our  race,  who  from  the  first,  with 
a  keen  sense  of  honor  and  splendid  cour- 
age, unhesitatingly  realized  their  duty  to 
France  and  to  the  ideals  which  our  Nation 
professed  to  uphold,  and  who  went  alone 
and  served  when  we  discussed  and  did 
nothing.  To  them,  to  our  splendid  avia- 
tors, and  to  those  who  enlisted  in  the  For- 
eign Legion,  be  all  honor  and  praise  for 
representing,  unbidden,  the  true  spirit  of 
the  American  Nation. 

"  Doing  my  part  of  the  everyday  care  — 
Human  and  simple  my  lot  and  my  share  — 
I  am  aware  of  a  marvelous  thing: 
Voices  that  murmur  and  ethers  that  ring 
In  the  far  stellar  spaces  where  cherubim 
sing." 

Since  the  diary  was  written,  the  au- 
thor has  been  placed  in  command  of  Sec- 
tion 1  and  has  been  awarded  the  Croix  de 
Guerre.  The  citation,  signed  by  a  general 
whose  name  is  withheld  for  the  present, 
reads  as  follows: — 

"The  Commandant  Adjoint  Steven- 
son, W.  Yorke,  American  Sanitary  Section 


xviii  PREFACE 

No.  1,  enlisted  volunteer  since  February, 
1916. 

"Commandant  Adjoint  of  the  Ameri- 
can Sanitary  Section  No.  1 ,  never  hesitat- 
ing to  expose  himself,  has  largely  contrib- 
uted to  the  organization  and  direction  of 
the  evacuations  under  enemy  fire.  Brave, 
devoted,  and  of  a  rare  modesty." 

The  Editor. 

August  1,  1917. 


NOTE 

This  is  not  a  Treatise  on  the  War.  I 
know  nothing  about  it.  General  Joffre 
never  consulted  me  in  developing  his  plans. 
It  was  rather  careless  on  his  part,  but  I  '11 
try  to  forgive  him.  Nor  did  the  German 
General  Staff  make  any  special  effort  to 
obtain  my  views.  Of  course,  it  has  been 
their  loss.  Therefore,  this  little  book  is 
merely  a  record  of  what  one  driver  of  a 
"Tin  Lizzie"  happened  to  see  during 
some  nine  months  spent  on  the  Somme, 
around  Verdun  and  in  the  Argonne. 

William  Yorke  Stevenson 

Ambulance  Driver 
Section  No.  1 


CONTENTS 

I.  Explanatory 1 

II.  Paris  —  Neuilly 15 

III.  At  the  Front  at  Last         ...  32 

IV.  On  les  aura 56 

V.  Preparing  for  the  Battle  of  the 

SOMME 80 

VI.  "Ils  ne  passeront  pas"       ...     99 

VII.  Verdun         114 

VIII.  "En  Repos" 140 

IX.  The  Battle  for  Fleury     .      .      .  159 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Lieutenant  Marquis  Robert  de  Kersau- 

SON  DE  PeNNENDREFF,  COMMANDING   SEC- 
TION Sanitaire  Americaine  No.  1 

Frontispiece 

At  the  Machine-Shop  at  Neuilly:  Wil- 
liam DwiGHT  Crane,  William  Yorke 
Stevenson,  and  Robert  T.  Roche  .      .      4 

Quarters  of  Section  1  at  Mericourt  on 
THE  Somme 34 

Three  Philadelphians — Samuel  H.  Paul, 
L.  Brooke  Edwards,  and  W.  Yorke 
Stevenson  —  at  Mericourt-Cappy  .      .    40 

A  Gunboat  on  the  Somme      ....    48 

The  French  Artist  Tardieu        ...    52 

Mlle.  Flore  Granger,  the  Only  Woman 
in  Gappy .58 

"Ambulance  No.  10,"  driven  by  W.  Yorke 
Stevenson  in  1916  on  the  Somme  and 
AT  Verdun 62 

A  Slump  in  Real  Estate  at  Gappy  .      .    66 

Victor  White 70 

Bridge  on  the  Somme  Ganal  at  Gappy 
connecting  French  and  British  Lines  .    80 


xxiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Senegalese  on  the  Somme      ....    94 

The  Gate  of  Verdun 108 

The  Lieutenant  and  the  Squad        .       .112 

Nelson,  Edward  Townsend,  and  Roche  .  128 

Loading  an  Ambulance  with  the  Help  of 
A  German  Prisoner 128 

Copt  of  Citation  of  July  26,  1916    .       .144 

Fishing  a  Ford  out  of  a  Hole:  Roger, 
Stevenson,  the  Lieutenant,  Herbert 
Townsend 194 

American  Sanitary  Section  No.  1  receiv- 
ing ITS  Citation  and  Croix  de  Guerre 
FOR  its  Work  at  Souville-Tavannes  .  214 


AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIV\^R 


AT  THE  FEONT  IN  A 
"  FLIVVER  " 

CHAPTER  I 

EXPLANATORY 

**Ont  fait  preuve  du  plus  brillant 
courage  etdu  plus  complet  devouement."  ^ 

The  old  General  ceased  reading  from 
the  Army  Corps  Citation  and,  stepping 
forward,  said :  — 

''Gentlemen,  as  you  carry  no  regimen- 
tal standard,  I  have  the  honor  of  pinning 
the  Croix  de  Guerre  upon  this  car  as  rep^ 
resenting  the  Section." 

»  General  Order  No.  189. 

Group  D.  E.  Staff  Headquarters,  S.  C.  No.  6611. 

November  5th,  191 6 y, 

The  General  Commanding  the  Group  D.  E.,  cites  by 
the  order  of  the  Army  Corps:  Sanitary  American  Sec- 
tion No.  1,  under  the  command  of  the  Lieutenant 
Robert  de  Kersauson  de  Pennendreff  and  of  the  Ameri- 
can Officer  Herbert  Townsend :  In  August  and  Septem- 
ber, 1916,  has  assured  the  evacuation  of  the  wounded  of 
three  Divisions  successively  in  a  section  particularly 


2      AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

It  was  a  *' Flivver"!! 

Just  a  plain  "flivver"  with  an  ambu- 
lance body  the  after  overhang  of  which 
gave  the  outfit  the  graceful  aspect  of  an 
overfed  June-bug. 

The  following  pages  were  not  written 
for  the  instruction  of  the  United  States 
Army  General  Staff,  although  one  might 
think,  from  the  astonishing  questions  one 
is  asked  on  returning  from  the  maelstrom, 
that  an  ordinary  Ambulance  driver  had 
the  intimate  ear  of  Generals  Joffre  and 
Nivelle,  and  had  been  consulted  by  them 
prior  to  most  of  their  major  operations. 
Neither  is  this  a  treatise  on  "How  to  Run 
an  Ambulance  Corps" — A.  Piatt  An- 
drew and  his  able  assistants  can  tell  you 
all  about  that.  This  is  merely  the  record 
of  my  intimate  personal  daily  existence 
with  the  kindly  "bunch"  of  twenty 
happy-go-lucky  pirates,  gathered  from  all 

dangerous;  has  asked  as  a  favor  to  retain  this  service,  in 
which  officers  and  conductors  have  given  proof  of  the 
most  briUiant  courage  and  of  the  most  complete  devo- 
tion. 

(Signed)     The  General  Commanding  Group  D.  E. 

Mangin. 


EXPLANATORY  3 

parts  of  the  United  States,  with  whom  I 
had  the  good  fortune  to  be  thrown  for 
some  ten  months  of  the  most  interesting, 
and,  I  am  almost  tempted  to  say,  the 
happiest,  months  of  my  Hfe. 

Judging  from  the  letters  received  from 
home,  the  Field  Ambulance  Sections 
are  supposed  to  spend  their  entire  time 
breathing  battle-smoke  and  gases;  dodg- 
ing shells  and  swabbing  cars  saturated 
with  blood.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  some  two 
thirds  of  the  time  is  spent  "en  repos," 
where,  apart  from  the  few  scheduled 
runs,  the  periodical  washing  of  the  cars, 
and  the  putting  them  in  first-class  repair, 
the  drivers  literally  loaf. 

The  remaining  third,  however,  is  more 
or  less  strenuous.  But  even  then,  this 
depends  upon  what  portion  of  the  battle 
line  the  Division  to  which  the  Section  is 
attached  happens  to  be  placed.  Generally 
speaking,  each  Division  has  an  Ambu- 
lance Section,  though  lately  the  French 
have  modified  this  system  to  a  certain 
extent,  and  one  becomes  part  of  a  "  groupe- 
ment "  which  may  include  more  than  one 


4      AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Division.  At  Verdun  we  worked  with  four 
Divisions  at  various  times,  day  and  night, 
and  at  times  under  really  intense  fire.  At 
other  times,  as  on  the  Aisne,  on  the 
Somme,  and  in  the  Argonne,  we  worked 
even  closer  to  the  Boches  than  at  Verdun, 
but  there  happened  to  be  no  really  active 
fighting  during  those  periods.  Hence, 
when  the  front  line  is  mentioned,  it  may 
often  mean  nothing  of  serious  impor- 
tance, and  yet  again  it  may  mean  the  most 
appalling  activity. 

For  instance,  at  the  time  of  the  unfortu- 
nate death  of  Richard  Hall,  of  Section  3, 
and  again  on  the  occasion  of  the  sad  tak- 
ing off  of  Kelly,  of  Section  4,  these  squads 
were  working  in  what  were  thought  for 
the  moment  to  be  quiet  sectors.  Yet  Sec- 
tion 1,  at  Souville,  and  during  the  battle 
of  Fleury,  had  nearly  all  of  its  cars  hit,  but 
not  one  man  was  even  scratched.  Such  is 
the  luck  of  the  game ! 

When  we  four  new  recruits  —  Roche, 
who  was  Captain  of  the  Princeton  Crew 
in  1911,  Mason,  hurdles  at  Harvard,  1908, 
Crane,  also  Harvard,  and  myself  —  first 


EXPLANATORY  5 

made  our  appearance  on  the  grounds  of 
the  big  hospital  at  Neuilly,  we  were  re- 
garded with  a  certain  amount  of  interest 
by  the  khaki-clad,  swank-looking  drivers 
who  happened  to  be  loafing  about  the 
yard  at  the  time.  The  impression  they 
made  upon  us  was  one  of  questioning 
doubt.  One  felt  as  though  they  were  un- 
certain in  their  minds  as  to  whether  one 
had  skipped  the  country  with  somebody's 
wad  or  his  wife,  or  both. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  doubt  if  more  than 
half  the  men  go  over  to  France  from  really 
altruistic  motives,  although  later  on 
France  gets  a  sort  of  grip  on  you  that  is 
hard  to  explain,  and  one  begins  to  want  to 
stay  and  to  "see  it  through."  It  is  her 
wonderful  steadfastness  in  the  terrible 
vicissitudes  through  which  she  has  passed. 
It  is  the  unfailing  cheerfulness  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  way  they  regard  the  War  as 
a  disagreeable  duty  to  be  performed.  No 
heroics !  No  lamentations !  They  go  about 
the  bloody  business  as  if  it  were  part  of 
the  day's  work. 

All  this  does  not  get  to  one  for  a  while. 


6      AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

but  it  gradually  sinks  in;  and  few  of  the 
returning  men  I  have  seen  were  going 
home  willingly.  It  was  because  of  affairs, 
family,  financial,  or  collegiate;  and  nearly 
every  one  hoped  to  be  able  to  come  back 
and  be  in  at  the  finish.  Indeed,  several  did 
come  back  during  my  stay,  and  since  my 
return  to  America  I  hear  of  more  who 
have  felt  the  strong  call.  Life  seems  so 
banal  after  one  has  been  a  part,  however 
humble,  of  history  in  the  making.  As  I 
write,  I  know  that  if  I  had  my  way,  I 
should  be  back  there  washing  my  old  "Tin 
Lizzie"  in  some  muddy  horsepond,  right 
now. 

Well,  after  proving  we  were  white, 
fairly  healthy,  and  not  palpable  fugitives 
from  the  law,  we  were  permitted  to  pur- 
chase uniforms,  various  sundries,  and  to 
join  the  other  new  recruits  burrowing 
their  oily  way  into  the  vitals  of  more  or 
less  dilapidated  heaps  of  junk  which  we 
were  told  were  cars  that  had  been  brought 
back  from  the  front  to  be  overhauled. 

The  following  pages  I  have  left  in  diary 
form,  just  as  they  were  jotted  down  at 


EXPLANATORY  7 

irregular  intervals.  In  reading  them  over, 
I  can  see  the  gradual  development  of  the 
raw  "  freshman,"  in  the  presence  of  things 
that  strike  him  as  strange  at  first,  until  he 
reaches  the  more  or  less  '* fed-up"  attitude 
of  the  average  so-called  veteran. 

L 

March  5,  1916.  On  board  French  Line 
S.S.  Rochambeau.  Carrying  three  bun- 
dles, a  bag,  a  bunch  of  rugs,  and  A.  B.'s 
luncheon  taken  at  the  Holland  House,  I 
boarded  the  Rochambeau  with  some  effort 
yesterday  just  as  the  whistle  sounded, 
while  I  kissed  various  people  good-bye. 
For  a  week  I  have  been  doing  nothing  else. 
This  teary  sob-stuff  gets  on  one's  nerves, 
particularly  when  one  is  scared  to  death 
anyhow.  It 's  the  least  kind  thing  one  per- 
son can  do  to  another,  to  call  his  attention 
to  various  things  that  may  happen  to  him 
on  a  sea  trip.  I  met  a  number  of  nice  peo- 
ple, —  a  Frenchman,  a  priest,  and  a  silk 
buyer;  the  latter  wept  most  of  the  way  out 
of  New  York  Harbor,  recalling  "the  wife" 
at  home,  and  giving  out  a  lot  of  maudlin 
stuff.  I  inquired  how  long  he  expected  to 


8      AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

remain  abroad  and  he  said,  "Ten  days**! 
Since  then  I  have  disliked  him  intensely. 
He  kicks  about  the  food  too !  I  have  not,  as 
yet,  met  the  other  Ambulance  men.  There 
are  about  six,  but  they  keep  to  themselves. 
Thank  Heaven,  the  bartender  knows 
how  to  mix  a  dry  martini.  I  've  got  a  fine 
stateroom.  The  food  is  poor  and  scanty, 
but  I  expected  that.  The  ship  is  short- 
handed  and  very  deep  in  the  water,  — ■ 
even  carrying  freight  piled  high  on  the 
after  deck.  Only  one  good-looker  aboard 
and  the  Captain  has  already  nailed  her  — 
curses!  I've  met  a  nice  Englishman  who 
is  going  back  to  his  mother  to  die.  He  has 
lung  trouble  and  prefers  mother  to  his 
wife  and  family  and  Reading,  Pennsylva- 
nia, as  a  place  to  finish  off.  His  mother 
lives  at  Grenoble,  in  the  Alps.  One  French- 
man ordered  onion  soup  this  morning  for 
breakfast.  Everybody  left  the  table.  I 
got  a  bully  lot  of  farewell  letters,  gifts,  and 
telegrams  —  some  from  quite  unexpected 
sources.  It 's  nice  to  find  one  has  so  many 
friends,  but  why  do  they  all  give  one 
shaving  kits.^* 


EXPLANATORY  9 

March  8.  Nothing  doing  yesterday. 
Met  most  of  the  Ambulance  men,  —  nice 
fellows,  —  R.  T.  Roche,  the  aforesaid 
Captain  of  Princeton  Crew  in  1911,  Aus- 
tin B.  Mason,  of  Boston  and  of  hurdles 
fame  at  Harvard,  1908,  and  William 
Dwight  Crane,  of  New  York  and  Harvard. 
Cargo  mostly  ether  and  oil;  also  muni- 
tions. There  is  a  heavy  roll,  —  racks  on 
table;  many  dishes  broken;  tramp  steamer 
caused  excitement,  likewise  hot  air  about 
possible  German  raider.  The  boys  are  try- 
ing to  get  up  a  concert  with  a  "busted" 
piano  and  no  one  to  sing.  Just  met  an  ex- 
American  Ambulance  man.  Was  in  the 
Pont-a-Mousson  Section  and  got  Croix 
de  Guerre.  He  used  to  do  newspaper  work. 
He  is  now  with  a  "bunch"  from  Pitts- 
burgh backed  by  a  rich  woman  who  wishes 
to  drive  her  own  car  at  the  front.  She's 
got  a  swell  chance !  He  is  beginning  to  get 
weary  of  his  crowd.  They  only  have  one 
car  in  "White"  and  they  expect  to  oper- 
ate as  an  Individual  Unit!  !  !  ! 

March  9.  Still  no  news  as  to  how  the 
fight  went  at  Verdun.     Expected  surely 


10    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

some  information  from  Eiffel  Tower;  but 
if  the  Captain  has  received  any,  he  is  keep- 
ing it  dark.  More  German-raider  scares, 
when  passing  several  freighters.  I  have  met 
a  nice  old  Italian  returning  from  Amer- 
ica where  he  was  buying  horses  for  his  gov- 
ernment. One  of  his  sons  already  has  been 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Trentino.  Another 
son  also  is  at  the  front.  He  does  all  kinds 
of  sleight-of-hand  tricks.  The  sea  has 
calmed  down  again,  and  the  weather  is  fine. 
'  Funny  how  people  act  in  these  raider 
rumors  —  women  get  excited,  men  pretend 
to  be  very  calm  and  joke  nervously  about 
being  marooned  on  a  desert  island  a  la 
Robinson  Crusoe.  The  only  one  I'd  like 
to  be  marooned  with  seems  to  have  made 
a  date  with  some  one  else.  The  old  Italian 
has  great  respect  for  the  Germans,  says 
they  are  the  best  business  men  —  not 
bright,  but  very  efficient.  He  thinks  that 
neither  side  has  as  yet  been  even  moder- 
ately weakened  and  looks  for  the  war  to 
last  at  least  two  years  more.  Almost 
every  one  else  thinks  a  year  should  end  it. 
March  10.  At  last  news  from  Verdun. 


EXPLANATORY  11 

French  still  holding.  Also  news  of  British 
and  Russian  gains.  Several  ships  (Allies) 
sunk;  and  one  German  boat  reported  es- 
caped from  internment  at  Bordeaux.  This 
aroused  some  uneasiness,  as  that  is  our 
destination.  I  have  given  all  my  books  to 
the  sick  Englishman,  as  he  says  he  can't 
get  anything  but  French  literature  at 
Grenoble.  Met  a  returning  French  officer 
—  Comte  de  Portanier  de  la  Rochette.  He 
has  been  ten  months  in  the  trenches  with- 
out so  much  as  a  scratch.  Has  been  on  an 
eight  days'  leave  in  the  United  States! 
Met  a  former  Philadelphian,  by  name 
Josiah  Williams,  a  doctor,  who  has  been  in 
the  war  since  the  start.  He  is  a  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  class  '88. 
Was  in  the  battle  of  the  Champagne  tend- 
ing first  poste  de  secours.  Very  interesting. 
He  thinks  the  French  have  them  licked 
now.  Knows  Drs. "  Billy  "  White,  "  Jim  " 
Hutchinson,  and  used  to  know  Dr.  Pepper. 
March  11.  Quite  rough.  De  la  Rochette 
says  that  in  the  Champagne  battle,  when 
they  captured  German  trenches,  he,  him- 
self, found  seven  dead  Germans  chained 


12    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

to  their  machine  guns.  Head  winds  and 
seas  will  make  us  a  day  late  at  least.  The 
silk  merchant  is  seasick,  so  we've  had  a 
respite  on  "the  wife  back  in  the  States" 
stuff.  I  Ve  met  a  young  woman  of  uncer- 
tain vintage  who  is  on  her  way  to  Monte 
Carlo.  Spends  her  time  knocking  Ameri- 
can efforts  to  help  France;  says  the  Am- 
bulance men  only  go  over  for  notoriety's 
sake.  I  l^t  her  rave  on,  and  when  she  was 
all  through,  bid  her  good-night,  remarking 
that  I  was  doing  that  myself.  I  hope  it 
taught  her  a  lesson. 

March  12.  The  Catholic  priest  and  some 
of  his  friends  announce  that  they  will  not 
attend  the  concert  because  little  "  blondy  " 
collected  the  money.  The  ladies  are  rabid. 
One  went  to  the  priest  and  told  him  she 
understood  that  his  job  included  being 
charitable  to  sinners  as  well  as  others. 
Priest  very  sheepish  and  presented  a 
French  novel  for  the  auction!  The  little 
blonde,  of  course,  is  a  professional;  but 
she  has  done  more  than  any  one  else  in  the 
way  of  getting  up  things  for  the  wounded. 
The  sea  is  so  calm  that  several  people  I 


EXPLANATORY  13 

had  not  seen  before  turned  up  on  deck. 
Imagine  being  in  an  8  x  10  hole  for  eight 
days.  Passed  several  tramps.  Boats  have 
been  swung  out  and  most  people  expect  to 
sleep  for  the  next  two  nights  more  or  less 
fully  dressed.  We  are  now  in  the  War 
Zone.  We  hold  the  auction  and  concert 
to-night. 

March  14.  Anchored  at  the  harbor 
mouth  and  came  up  late.  After  much  red 
tape  got  off  boat.  They  caught  one  sus- 
pect —  a  German  Jew. 

"Taisez-vous, 
Mefiez-vous, 
Les  oreilles  ennemies  vous  ^outent." 

This  sign  is  everywhere  posted,  on  trains, 
etc.  Bordeaux  little  changed  except  for 
lack  of  autos.  Women  on  all  tram  cars, 
and  conductors  on  trains  are  women. 
There  is  quite  a  movement  of  troops,  and 
trains  are  crowded.  The  reserves  are  all 
in  the  old  red  pants  and  caps,  the  new  war 
pale  blue  being  only  used  at  the  front.  The 
new  metal  helmet  is  almost  a  replica  of  the 
old  pikemen's  casques,  only  enameled  a 
pale  dull  blue-gray,  and  the  comb  is  ap- 


14    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

plied  instead  of  being  all  of  one  piece.  It  is 
very  light  and  of  tough  steel. 

It  is  spring  in  the  south.  Cherry  blos- 
soms and  buttercups,  and  everywhere  the 
vineyards  are  being  tended  and  the  fields 
sown.  Farther  north  it  is  still  only  plough- 
ing time. 

At  Poitiers  we  saw  the  first  train-load  of 
German  prisoners;  most  of  them  were 
thoroughly  satisfied  to  be  out  of  the  war. 
I  must  admit,  though,  that  the  tales  of 
their  being  starved  were  not  borne  out  by 
these  men.  They  looked  quite  healthy.  We 
also  saw  a  train  of  Red  Cross  cars  carrying 
wounded  to  the  south  for  recuperation. 
Only  the  slightly  injured,  however.  It 
seemed  almost  like  returning  to  one's  home 
to  see  the  familiar  towns  again,  Tours, 
Blois,  and  the  rest.  The  curious,  hazy 
atmosphere  of  France,  the  tiny  villages 
nestling  about  their  castles  like  chickens 
around  the  mother  hen,  and,  above  all, 
the  familiar  poplars.  Paris  is  very  quiet 
and  dark;  but  there  are  plenty  of  cabs  and 
taxis,  and  food  is  as  good  as  ever. 


CHAPTER  II 

PARIS  —  NEUILLY 

1916 

In  the  wax-works  of  Nature  they  strike 
Off  each  minute  some  face  for  life's  hike. 
And  of  billions  of  mugs, 
On  us,  poor  human  bugs. 
There  are  no  two  exactly  alike. 

Euwer 

Paris,  March  16.  To-day  I  met  A. 
Piatt  Andrew  —  bully  fellow  —  much 
younger  than  I  expected.  He 's  the  *'  whole 
show"  out  at  Neuilly.  Other  fellows  are 
very  nice  too.  Several  start  for  the  Front 
to-morrow,  so  the  Equipment  Department 
is  very  busy.  I  had  to  see  half  a  dozen 
officials,  French  and  American,  to  get 
vised.  We  are  to  take  our  driver's  exams, 
to-morrow,  and  I  ordered  clothes.  At 
Maxim's  for  dinner,  I  sat  next  to  a  party 
of  sad-rich  American  Jews  who  were 
lionizing  a  fat  English  Jew  in  uniform.  It 
was  pathetic.  Just  as  they  were  ordering 
the  proverbial  "wine,"  a  crippled  French 


16    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

aviator  came  in.  The  whole  restaurant 
did  him  silent  homage.  The  Aviation 
Corps  of  all  the  armies  are  by  all  odds  the 
biggest  heroes.  The  whole  cafe,  there- 
fore, drank  various  toasts  to  him,  and  the 
fat  Jews  just  faded  from  sight. 

Just  now  the  Neuilly  Hospital  is  being 
cleared  of  its  wounded  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. It  looks  as  if  they  expected  a  big 
Ally  offensive  as  soon  as  the  Verdun  battle 
is  over.^  There  are  very  few  wounded  in 
Paris  at  present.  Most  of  the  Ambulance 
men  are  at  the  Front.  They  have  organ- 
ized a  new  special  fifteen-day  corps  for 
emergencies.  It  is  now  at  Verdun.  I  hope 
I  get  a  chance,  although,  of  course,  the 
turns  go  more  or  less  by  seniority.  The 
food  is  fair  at  the  hospital  —  all  eat  at 
long  tables.  There  is  an  immense  staff 
of  nurses,  doctors,  and  orderlies,  and  the 
place  is  much  larger  than  I  expected.  Also 
it  has  a  much  higher  standing  with  official- 
dom than  I  had  been  led  to  believe.  For 
instance,  in  getting  our  residence  permit, 
the  moment  we  entered  the  court  we  were 

^  This  has  proved  to  be  the  case. 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  17 

passed  ahead  of  a  large  crowd  who  were 
awaiting  their  turns.  The  same  thing  oc- 
curred at  the  tailor's. 

The  first  growl  I've  heard  over  war 
burdens  was  from  a  taxi-driver,  who  ex- 
plained why  his  engine  was  "missing,"  by 
the  fact  that  all  the  expert  mechanicians 
were  at  the  Front  and  they  sent  him  out 
these  days  with  an  unrepaired  "sale 
comme  ga!  .  .  .  "(meaning  more  besides). 
The  only  things  that  never  change  in  Paris 
are  the  "cocottes"  at  Maxim's.  They  are 
ever  the  same. 

March  18.  Busy  days,  these.  I  am  still 
*' chasing"  all  around  the  city  after  vari- 
ous necessary  papers.  I  passed  auto  exam. 
O.K.  We  are  sleeping  in  a  big  barnlike 
room  under  the  roof.  They  call  it  "the 
Zeppelin  apartment."  Only  one  cold 
shower.  You  have  to  warm  your  own 
shaving-water.  Only  one  toilet  for  eighty 
men.  Cots  are  nice,  warm,  and  clean.  It 
is  hard  to  sleep,  on  account  of  the  contin- 
ual coming  and  going.  I  got  called  at 
2  A.M.  last  night.  A  trainload  of  wounded 
arrived    from    the  Vosges;    one    French 


18    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

General  among  them.  We  were  not  taken 
along,  as  we  have  not  yet  received  our  uni- 
forms and  would  not  be  allowed  within  the 
Station  without  them. 

The  fellows  got  through  at  7.  Some  of 
the  new  ones  looked  pretty  sick  from  their 
first  experience  with  the  smell  of  gangrene 
and  dysentery.  All  washed  their  teeth  and 
one  man  had  a  cut  treated.  This  is  very 
necessary.  Several  of  the  internes  have 
contracted  gangrene  and  tetanus  at  in- 
tervals. 

I  talked  to  one  man  who  had  to  be  oper- 
ated on  seven  times  in  the  stomach.  He 
had  drains  in  him  for  weeks.  Then  hernia 
followed  and  he  was  operated  on  for  that. 
He  is  an  amusing  bird.  He  walks  about 
bent  up  like  an  old  man.  After  telling  me 
all  the  harrowing  details,  he  added:  "And 
they  gave  me  a  medal  for  it !  I  'd  rather 
they'd  given  me  a  new  stomach!" 

The  French  Government  has  taken 
charge  of  the  hospital  now,  and  they  say 
the  rules  are  much  more  rigid,  and  the 
*' etiquette  militaire"  much  more  pro- 
nounced. The  old  men  "kick"  when  they 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  19 

come  back  from  the  Front,  where  every- 
thing goes !  They  say  the  place  no  longer 
feels  like  the  club  it  formerly  was. 

I  saw  to-day  the  stuff  captured  from 
the  Germans,  now  at  the  Invalides.  As  I 
entered,  a  military  funeral  came  out.  It 
must  have  been  some  high  official.  Look- 
ing into  the  German  cannon  muzzles 
gave  one  a  rather  sinking  feeling,  as  the 
same  types  of  weapons  will  be  firing  at  us 
shortly.  The  workmanship  was  very  good 
in  the  guns,  but  rather  coarse  (as  compared 
to  the  French)  in  the  aeroplanes. 

March  19.  I  had  some  fun  to-day.  I  put 
on  the  uniform  and,  for  a  time,  felt  like  an 
awful  ass  strutting  about  the  streets  in  it, 
but  it  gets  one  a  lot  of  privileges:  half 
price  at  theaters,  half  price  for  such  drinks 
as  you  are  permitted,  i.e.,  wines,  beer,  but 
no  "hard"  liquor,  except  between  11  a.m. 
and  2  P.M.  and  5  and  9  p.m.,  and  one  must 
not  be  seen  in  uniform  on  the  terraces  of 
cafes.  All  drinks  must  be  taken  indoors. 
Also  etiquette  has  it  that  if  any  sort  of 
spree  is  contemplated  one  must  dress  in 
civilian  clothes. 


20    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Incidentally,  as  the  "cocottes'*  scorn 
any  one  not  in  uniform  and  are  not  per- 
mitted any  alcoholic  liquors  whatever, 
the  whole  system  works  very  well  in  keep- 
ing the  men  straight. 

The  fun  referred  to  above  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  our  uniform  is  almost  identi- 
cal with  that  of  the  English  officers,  unless 
one  is  close  enough  to  note  the  Red  Cross 
insignia  on  the  cap  and  buttons.  Hence 
you  can  strut  along  the  Boulevard  and 
be  steadily  saluted  by  all  the  raw  "Tom- 
mies," of  whom  there  are  legions.  At  first 
it  nearly  took  my  breath  away;  but  I  man- 
aged to  pull  a  solemn  face  and  to  salute 
stiffly  back,  although  I  started  to  use  the 
left  hand  and  I  heard  one  of  them  remark 
about  it.  By  the  way,  one  of  our  drivers 
back  from  the  Verdun  battle  tells  me  that 
the  French,  within  a  couple  of  days  of  the 
start  on  their  big  drive,  had  at  least  a 
million  men  massed  there,  and  that  the 
"Germs"  had  no  more  chance  of  getting 
through  than  the  Republican  Party  at 
home  has  next  fall. 

Dr.  Gros  gave  us  a  talk  on  general  be- 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  21 

havior.  He  said  one  must  obliterate  all 
one's  personal  desires,  and  work  for  the 
good  of  France  and  France  alone;  not  for 
personal  glory,  dodging  shells,  and  that 
sort  of  thing.  One  is  supposed  to  take  ex- 
treme care  of  one's  self  and  of  one's  ma- 
chine, and  not  to  take  it  into  dangerous 
places  unless  so  ordered.  For  instance, 
there  are  definite  rules  in  Paris  as  to  Zep- 
pelin raids.  The  moment  the  warning  is 
given,  each  car,  in  the  parking  space  at 
the  hospital,  must  be  placed  at  a  hundred- 
feet  interval  from  every  other  car,  —  more 
if  possible,  —  so  that  not  many  will  be  in- 
jured. Men  must  then  come  indoors  in 
order  not  to  be  hurt.  When  either  civil 
or  military  calls  come  from  the  struck 
district  of  the  city,  cars  must  not  proceed 
in  caravan  order,  but  must  assume  inter- 
vals not  less  than  a  hundred  yards  apart, 
so  that  not  more  than  one  car  can  be 
struck.  No  lights  are  to  be  used  unless 
specifically  permitted  by  French  authori- 
ties. All  dormitory  lights  must  also  be  ex- 
tinguished. 

March  20.  I  worked  all  day  in  the  gar- 


22    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

age.  At  7  p.m.  we  received  notice  that  a 
train  of  "blesses"  was  due  at  La  Cha- 
pelle  at  4  a.m.  I  got  more  or  less  sleep  and 
went  out  in  the  "padded  cell";  and  found 
more  cars  than  were  needed,  but  helped  to 
fill  them.  The  main  trouble  is  that  each 
ambulance  and  set  of  ambulances  have  dif- 
ferent methods  of  holding  the  stretchers, 
which  the  new  men  must  find  out  for  them- 
selves. It  is  a  trifle  hard  on  the  wounded, 
as  they  get  jostled  about  much  more  than 
if  all  the  holders  were  alike.  The  Ameri- 
can Ambulance  men  have  been  so  careful 
in  handling  the  wounded,  that  now  every- 
thing waits  until  they  arrive  to  carry  them 
from  the  train  to  the  various  corps  of  am- 
bulances. There  is  here,  at  present,  a  new 
Canadian  Corps  with  some  very  good 
McFarland  cars. 

When  we  got  through  at  7  a.m.  we  were 
told  that  another  train  would  arrive  at 
5  P.M.  Therefore  we  worked  in  the  garage 
for  a  while,  then  went  to  bed  until  4.30. 
The  first  load  of  wounded  were  in  good  con- 
dition. They  smelt  very  little,  and  were 
self -controlled.   A  reason  why  the  Ameri- 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  23 

can  Ambulance  men  now  carry  most  of  the 
wounded  is  because  two  men  already  have 
been  killed  by  the  French  hrancardiers 
letting  them  fall;  and  many  have  been  se- 
riously injured  in  being  bumped  about 
the  head  by  careless  handling.  The  cause 
really  lies  in  their  lack  of  understanding 
of  the  different  mechanical  appliances  to 
hold  the  stretchers.  The  average  French- 
man left  in  this  employ  is  very  duU.^ 

I  have  been  surprised  at  the  average 
small  stature  of  the  French  soldiers,  but 
they  say  it  is  a  good  thing  in  the  trench 
warfare.  Fred  Dawson  turned  up  from  the 
Vosges  to-day. 

March  21.  We  broke  the  record  for 
speed  last  night.  We  got  129  men  out  of 
the  cars  in  nineteen  minutes.  I  happened 
to  draw  the  officers'  car,  and  being  better 
fed,  some  of  them  were  heavy  to  move, 
but  they  were  clean  and  were  free  from 
odor.  One  had  his  back  broken :  the  trench 
had  caved  in  on  him;  but  they  expect  to 

*  The  reason  is  that  all  skillful  men,  not  at  the  Front, 
are  in  the  munition  factories;  only  old  or  very  young 
men  are  used  for  this  purpose  around  Paris. 


24    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

save  him,  as  he  is  not  paralyzed.  We  got 
through  at  11  p.m.  I  drove  with  an  ass  of 
a  Belgian  who  tried  to  tell  me  all  about 
his  Pierce- Arrow !   How  E.  would  laugh! 

March  23.  I  met  Miss  Townsend,  of 
Bryn  Mawr,  Pennsylvania,  to-day.  She  is 
a  nurse  here.  She  greeted  me  as  a  long-lost 
friend.  Another  squad  arrived  from  the 
Front  with  three  cars  for  us,  poor  "  boobs,'* 
to  take  to  pieces  and  put  together  again. 
They  are  all  going  back,  worse  luck,  so  no 
vacant  places  yet.  Parsons  is  going  into 
the  Aviation  Corps.  There  are  quite  a 
number  now  who  have  gone  from  our 
Corps.  Two  new  men  arrived  to-day,  so  I 
don't  feel  quite  such  a  *' freshman."  I  was 
complimented  by  the  head  of  the  mechan- 
ical department  on  quick  and  accurate 
work  and  was  put  in  charge  of  a  lot  of  fel- 
lows disassembling  a  "flivver."  So  far  so 
good. 

March  M.  Raining.  A  "bunch"  from 
Section  No.  1  came  down  and  had  to  be 
entertained.  Ewell,  the  machinery  boss, 
asked  me  to  a  Sunday  luncheon.  He  says 
his  wife  was  a  Philadelphian  and  would 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  25 

enjoy  talking  about  the  old  town.  I  went 
in  with  him  and  Fenton  and  had  tea  at 
Ciros  with  Mrs.  Ewell  and  a  Miss  Elliott 
from  Savannah,  a  very  nice  girl. 

March  25.  A  man  in  the  private  ward 
next  to  us  died  last  night.  Most  of  his 
brains  were  shot  away.  Another  is  ex- 
pected to  die  shortly. 

One  "blesse"  had  a  curiously  tragic 
experience.  He  saw  a  friend  looking  over 
the  trench  parapet  with  his  arm  drawn 
back,  holding  a  bomb  ready  to  throw. 
Thinking  he  wanted  the  fuse  lit,  he  did  so, 
expecting  the  fellow  to  throw  the  bomb. 
But  the  man,  not  knowing  the  fuse  was 
lit,  did  n't  throw  it  and  was  blown  to 
atoms.  The  man  who  lit  the  fuse,  of  course, 
was  injured;  that  is  how  he  happens  to  be 
here.  The  poor  fellow  was  terribly  de- 
pressed by  the  tragic  result  of  his  blunder. 

They  expect  a  big  drive  soon.  The  men 
have  been  issued  a  new  kind  of  knife.  It  is 
like  a  brass-knuckle  with  a  blade  about 
eight  inches  long  sticking  out  from  the 
middle.  The  regular  equipment  for  charg- 
ing now  consists  of  two  dynamite  cart- 


26    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

ridges,  six  bombs,  a  knife,  and  a  revolver: 
no  guns  at  all. 

I  met  a  rather  nice  little  French  girl  last 
night.  There  is  a  young  Englishman  in  one 
of  the  hospitals,  she  told  me,  who  has  no 
arms,  no  legs,  is  stone  blind  and  stone 
deaf.  He  can  only  feel  and  talk,  and  all  he 
does  is  to  beg  to  be  killed.  She  says  a 
friend  of  hers  who  nursed  a  man,  blind  and 
without  arms,  is  going  to  marry  him  be- 
cause she  thinks  it  is  her  duty,  although 
she  does  not  care  for  him.  She  is  not 
pretty;  but  as  the  man  is  blind  it  will  not 
matter,  she  says.  Such  cases  are  not  rare. 

March  27.  We  had  a  funny  time  yester- 
day. We  were  all  "canned"  for  the  day 
because  so  many  were  late  for  roll-call 
(8.30).  Every  one  of  us  was  up  and  about, 
but  we  didn't  know  Budd,  the  Squad 
Lieutenant,  was  ready  to  call  the  roll.  So 
instead  of  being  permitted  the  usual  after- 
noon passes,  we  were  all  told  that  we  'd 
have  to  remain  in  until  7.30.  Some  kicked 
like  steers  because  they  had  luncheon  and 
dinner  engagements.  I  had  both,  but  said 
nothing,  and  the  result  was  that  I  made  a 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  27 

hit  with  Budd,  who  took  me  out  to  sup- 
per at  the  Bal  Tabarin  and  introduced 
me  to  a  lot  of  what  he  calls  his  "Paris 
Squadarettes."  He  is  really  a  very  de- 
cent chap.  They  tried  to  teach  me  pool, 
which  was  somewhat  amusing!!  I  took 
revenge  on  Budd  this  morning.  I  pulled 
him  out  of  bed  at  7  a.m.  and  rolled  him  on 
the  floor.  The  usual  weekly  switch  oc- 
curred between  Neuilly  and  Juilly  to-day. 
Five  Fords  here,  by  the  way,  are  gifts  of 
Johnny  Fell  —  Mrs.  Alexander  Van  Rens- 
selaer's son. 

I  worked  in  the  garage  this  a.m.  and 
lunched  with  Ewell  and  his  wife  at  their 
apartment.  I  met  an  Englishman  named 
Vaughn;  he  is  very  rich,  and  has  given 
himself  and  his  car  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment. He  is  a  sort  of  officer's  chauffeur. 
He  says  they  have  already  got  the  subma- 
rine that  sank  the  Sussex.  It  seems  that 
"subs"  have  learned  how  to  cut  the  Chan- 
nel net;  so  Havre,  Boulogne,  and  Calais 
are  closed.  The  "  Germs  "  have  invented  a 
method  of  seeing  under  water,  some  of 
them  no  longer  employ  periscopes,  but 


28    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

the  English,  he  says,  are  capturing  them 
rapidly.  The  latest  method,  after  sinking 
or  netting  a  "  sub,"  is  to  raise  and  repair  it, 
and  then  operate  it  under  its  own  number 
and  colors.  In  this  way  many  German 
"subs"  have  caught  their  own  boats!! 
Also  several  German  warships.  Fears  are 
being  expressed  by  the  Allies  that  America 
will  get  into  the  war  over  this  latest  Sus- 
sex outrage.  What  they  hope  is  that  we 
will  break  off  diplomatic  relations,  thus 
enabling  the  English  blockade  to  become 
really  effective. 

March  28.  I  had  to  go  out  in  No.  42  to 
Juilly  with  Fenton  Ho  fit  a  front  axle  on 
an  old  74  (Daimler).  Mac  got  a  "skid" 
while  carrying  a  hundred  litres  of  gasoline 
out  there,  and  bent  the  steering-gear. 
Parsons,  an  old  hand,  then  took  the  wheel 
and  tried  to  run  her  into  Juilly.  The  gear 
locked  when  they  got  going  fast  and  the 
car  was  ditched.  Mac  was  thrown  thirty 
feet  and  landed  on  his  nose.  A  Frenchman 

^  Powel  Fenton,  Section  No.  3,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia.  Son  of  Dr.  Thomas  H.  Fenton, 
president  of  the  Art  Club  of  that  city.  Fenton,  later, 
served  at  Saloniki  in  Section  No.  10. 


PARIS  — NEUELLY  29 

landed  on  the  roof  of  the  car,  but  was  n't 
hurt  and  neither  was  Parsons.  We  made 
the  fifty -kilometer  trip  through  Paris  to 
Juilly  in  an  hour  and  a  quarter  in  the  Ford, 
including  a  blow-out  which  we  fixed  in  fif- 
teen minutes.  The  return  trip  in  the  dark 
we  did  in  one  hour,  although  we  had  to 
relight  the  oil  lamps  four  times  —  not  be- 
ing allowed  to  use  the  acetylenes.  But  we 
broke  a  spreader,  hitting  an  island  on  the 
Boulevard !  Two  new  men  were  taken  out 
by  Eno,  whose  job  is  to  test  out  the  raw 
recruits.  Some  job!  Van  was  driving,  tried 
to  take  a  curve  sharply,  never  having 
handled  a  Ford,  and  capsized  completely. 
One  man  was  shot  clear,  but  Eno  and  Van 
remained  under  the  car,  which  continued 
to  run  upside  down  for  a  couple  of  minutes. 
Neither  man  was  hurt,  but  Eno  said  he 
thought  the  motor  would  never  stop.  He 
knew  it  was  bound  to  catch  fire,  and  he 
said  he  never  spent  such  a  rotten  five  min- 
utes. We  fixed  the  car,  righted  it,  and  it 
ran  all  right,  except  for  a  smashed  dash- 
board and  a  dished  hind  wheel. 

Some  of  the  men  here  have  had  most 


30    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

interesting  careers.  Budd  was  in  the 
United  States  Army,  then  auto  salesman, 
cowpuncher,  and,  when  the  war  started, 
had  to  work  as  a  waiter  in  a  cafe  until  he 
could  cash  an  American  check.  A  ten  is 
an  explorer.  Has  been  with  Dr.  Hiller,  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  to  Borneo; 
and  also  in  the  Arctic.  Mason  and  Crane 
leave  for  the  Front  to-morrow.  They  hap- 
pened to  be  the  first  men  on  the  list  of 
those  who  arrived  on  the  same  day  I  did. 

March  29.  A  call  came  for  La  Chapelle 
for  1  A.M.  We  did  a  little  diplomatic  social 
stunt  by  inviting  the  Canadian  Ambulance 
to  11  o'clock  supper.  It  worked  very  nicely. 

One  hundred  and  forty-four  wounded 
arrived  from  the  Bois-des-Corbeaux  in 
front  of  Verdun;  mostly  badly  injured, 
many  from  liquid  fire.  I  got  back  at  6  a.m. 

I  was  told  this  morning  that  I  might 
have  the  choice  of  joining  the  famous  No. 
2  Section  —  the  so-called  "  Pont-a-Mous- 
son"  —  but  that  they  were  now  in  retreat 
away  back  of  the  lines;  or  I  might  go  with 
Roche  to  No.  1,  formerly  the  Dunkerque 
Section,  but  which  is  now  north  of  Amiens 


PARIS  — NEUILLY  31 

at  the  junction  of  the  British  and  French 
Hnes.  This,  they  think,  will  be  the  *'big 
bet"  when  the  English  offensive  begins. 
So  I  took  a  chance  on  that.  Andrew  said 
he  thought  I  had  chosen  wisely,  even 
though,  so  far,  this  Section  has  not  been 
particularly  in  the  limelight.  They  say 
No.  1  and  No.  4  (north  of  Toul)  are  likely 
to  see  the  most  action;  but,  of  course,  it's 
any  one's  guess.  We  leave  on  April  1st, 
according  to  present  arrangements.  I  got 
a  finger  infected  yesterday  from  working  in 
the  garage  and  getting  a  cut,  and  then 
carrying  wounded;  but  they  will  fix  me 
up  in  time  to  leave,  they  say.  All  band- 
aged now,  hence  "bum"  writing.  Oddly 
enough,  Mrs.  Hunter  Scarlett  (Miss  Edith 
Townsend  of  Philadelphia,  that  was)  fixed 
the  bandages  for  me  beautifully. 

Ferguson^  came  back  from  Verdun  to- 
day with  his  head  all  bandaged.  He  ac- 
quired some  sort  of  skin  affection  from 
sleeping  in  some  dirty  place.  They  all  call 
him  the  "grand  blesse,"  and  he  gets  all 
sorts  of  attention  on  the  street! 

^  Danforth  B.  Ferguson,  of  Brooklyn,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  III 

AT   THE   FRONT   AT   LAST 

"  They  have  oozed  with  the  rest  into  a  road  and  a  river 
of  mud,  where  the  food  and  munition  convoys  get  through 
three  times  in  five.  .  .  . 

Where  the  pelting  of  steel  is  as  impatient  and  persistent 
as  the  pelt  of  the  sleet  and  as  pitiless." 

John  Curtis  Underwood 

April  1.  Cappy.  The  last  twenty-four 
hours  have  been  more  full  of  kaleidoscopic 
changes  than  any  I  have  ever  spent.  Sit- 
ting here  at  Cappy  within  a  mile  of  the 
front  lines,  with  the  incessant  rumbling  of 
the  guns,  the  barking  of  the  mitrailleuses 
and  the  shriek  of  the  great  shells  in  my 
ears,  the  world  seems  unreal. 

It  is  a  beautiful  warm  sunny  day.  An 
old  lady  in  a  little  shop  here  has  just  sold 
me  a  couple  of  perfect  brioches  and  some 
chocolate.  We  are  waiting  for  a  couple  of 
men  to  carry  back  to  Mericourt  where  we 
have  our  barracks.  The  railroad  trip  to 
Amiens  was  interesting,  inasmuch  as  we 
saw  such  enormous  movements  of  sup- 
plies, guns,  and  troops,  including  the  most 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  33 

remarkably  colored  armored  trains  with 
big  six-  and  eight-inch  cannon  and  aero- 
plane guns.  They  look  about  the  same  as 
the  figured  walnut  stock  of  a  fine  shot-gun, 
the  theory  being  that  the  mixed  coloring  is 
imperceptible  in  the  fog  or  semi-darkness. 
We  also  passed  many  troop-trains,  Eng- 
lish, South  African,  and  Australian. 

At  Amiens,  which  is  the  British  Head- 
quarters at  present,  we  were  met  by  three 
Section  1  men  and  lunched  with  them. 
Then  we  proceeded  to  Mericourt-sur- 
Somme,  which  is  at  the  junction  of  the 
British  and  French  lines.  We  saw  two  ob- 
servation balloons  and  hundreds  of  cam- 
ions along  the  road.  Guns  everywhere, 
soldiers  everywhere,  and  long  lines  of  tents 
on  the  hills.  Met  the  "bunch";  all  good 
sorts;  and  we  were  shown  our  bunks  in  an 
old  tumble-down  farmhouse.  We  sleep 
on  straw  on  which  we  place  our  blankets. 
The  place  is  said  to  be  clean,  although  one 
of  the  men  was  down  with  "gale,"  a  sort  of 
mange,  and  left  to-day  for  Amiens  for 
treatment.  We  go  to  a  pump  for  washing; 
but  though  it  is  cold  now  it  will  be  warm 


34    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

enough  soon.  The  food  is  better  than 
in  Paris.  An  old  Zouave  cooks  it.  It  is 
the  regular  army  ration:  soup,  meat,  one 
vegetable,  sweet  coffee,  and  vin  ordinaire; 
luncheon  and  dinner  about  the  same. 
Breakfast,  bread,  coffee  and  "confiture.'* 
I  slept  to  the  rumble  of  the  guns. 

I  have  met  Herbert  P.  Townsend,  of 
New  York,  our  chief;  very  nice  and  court- 
eous and  helpful.  In  the  morning  I  was  told 
all  about  the  Section.  We  are  attached  to 
the  Sixth  Army.  It  is  composed  of  the 
Colonials  (Zouaves,  Foreign  Legion,  Ton- 
kinois,  etc.),  the  one  which  always  leads 
the  attacks.  It  is  considered  the  best  for 
charges.  Just  now  it  is  doing  little,  being 
to  a  certain  extent  "en  repos,"  although 
defending  about  six  to  ten  miles  of  line. 

From  the  canal  of  the  Somme,  the  divid- 
ing line  between  the  English  and  French, 
is  cast  around  a  great  arc  running  north- 
west to  southeast.  This  Section  has  made 
a  big  hit  with  the  French;  and  the  French 
Lieutenant  in  charge  is  a  mighty  good 
fellow.  We  went  to  the  farthest  point  the 
Ambulance  can  go  along  a  road  where  the 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  35 

canal  on  one  side  has  nothing  to  keep  one 
from  skidding  into  it.  The  road  is  full  of 
shell  holes  and  newly  blown  down  or 
pierced  trees.  Men  are  killed  there  con- 
stantly, but  the  Germans  only  shell  it 
when  they  know  of  an  important  move- 
ment. Individuals,  or  even  individual 
autos,  are  not  considered  worth  bothering 
with.  It  was  about  4  p.m.  on  a  bright 
afternoon,  and  the  Germans  could  see  us 
plainly  as  we  went  along.  There  was  a 
terrific  blast  and  discharge  right  out  of  a 
clump  of  bushes  across  the  canal,  and  we 
found  it  was  a  huge  eight-inch  English 
naval  gun  which  had  been  previously  con- 
cealed. She  fired  right  out  over  our  heads; 
but  I  was  not  particularly  startled,  as  I 
was  so  busy  driving  and  watching  the  road. 
Then  a  German  aeroplane  came  by,  and  all 
along  the  line  the  antiplane  guns  began 
to  pop,  studding  the  sky  with  puffs  of 
fleecy  white.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,  al- 
though there  is  always  some  danger  from 
the  bits  of  falling  shrapnel.  The  French 
Lieutenant  at  the  advance  post  at  Eclu- 
sier  ordered  me  to  take  the  car  around 


36    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

a  corner  of  the  wood  out  of  sight,  and  to 
walk  back,  which  I  did.  He  then  let  me 
pick  up  a  few  relics  such  as  "75"  empty 
cases,  and  the  men  sold  me  a  couple  of 
German  "77"  obus  noses  (time  fuses).  I 
came  back  after  collecting  the  "  tin  Derby  " 
of  the  Medecin  Chef  who  had  been  killed 
on  the  day  before,  because  he  exposed  him- 
self above  the  trench  in  order  to  bring  back 
a  dead  soldier.  He  was  criticized  for  doing 
it.  In  fact,  anything  foolhardy  of  that 
character,  instead  of  being  eulogized,  is 
rather  considered  as  reflecting  on  the  in- 
telligence of  the  man  who  does  it. 

I  carried  a  few  sick  (not  wounded)  back 
to  the  hospital  at  Villers-Bretonneux.  One 
had  pneumonia,  another  syphilis.  The 
doctors  say  that  the  latter  has  increased 
forty  per  cent  since  the  passage  of  the 
Germans  through  Northern  France  in 
the  first  big  advance  to  Paris. 

The  night  brought  a  heavy  bombard- 
ment, the  heaviest  since  the  Section  has 
been  here  (three  weeks).  We  climbed  the 
hill  after  dinner  to  watch  it  —  a  wonder- 
ful sight  —  mixture  of  a  thunderstorm 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  37 

and  Fourth  of  July;  the  incessant  rumble 
of  the  guns  with  the  great  flashes  lighting 
up  the  sky  for  miles,  coupled  with  the  beau- 
tiful blue -and -white  flare  bombs  which 
hung  in  the  heavens  for  half  a  minute  or 
more  at  a  time,  making  everything  bright 
as  day;  then  the  range  rockets  from  the  ob- 
servation forts  indicating  by  colored  lights 
whether  the  batteries  were  shooting  too 
high  or  low  or  too  much  to  right  or  left. 

And  above  shone  the  calm  stars  looking 
down  on  a  world  gone  mad. 

April  2.  We  expected  to  be  called  out 
during  the  night,  but  when  we  reached  the 
first  lines  this  morning,  we  found  that  the 
expenditure  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth 
of  shells  by  both  sides  had  resulted,  in  our 
Sector  of  about  six  miles  or  more  of  line, 
in  only  two  or  three  carloads  of  wounded 
—  eight  or  twelve  men !  This  was  out  of 
all  proportion,  it  seems  to  me,  to  the  ef- 
fort made.  Of  course,  there  were  a  few 
dead,  and  there  may  have  been  a  larger 
proportion  of  losses  by  the  Germans,  as 
it  was  they  who  made  the  attack. 

The  country  is  zigzagged  with  second- 


38    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

ary  and  tertiary  trenches  and  bristles  with 
barbed-wire  entanglements,  but  all  around 
and  in  every  direction  the  peasants  are  till- 
ing the  fields  and  the  crops  are  growing.  As 
I  sit  here  now,  in  our  garden  at  Mericourt, 
two  old  women  are  planting  radishes  and 
other  early  vegetables.  Dandelions  and 
violets  are  in  blossom  and  above  my  head 
are  the  white  buds  of  an  apple  tree.  Yet  an 
observation  balloon  is  in  the  sky,  aero- 
planes buzz  to  and  fro,  and  dominating 
even  the  twitter  of  the  birds  and  the  buzz 
of  the  insects  is  the  steady  rumble  of  the 
never-ceasing  guns. 

We  had  a  physical  inspection  this  after- 
noon; one  man  got  sent  back  for  treat- 
ment, and  two  for  the  mange,  the  same  as 
the  first  man  who  had  to  go  to  the  hospi- 
tal. It  is  not  really  the  mange,  but  a  sort 
of  thing  akin  to  it.  It  looks  like  hives  and 
is  contracted  in  the  trenches.  The  cure  is 
scrubbing  with  stiff -bristled  brushes  until 
the  skin  bleeds  and  then  washing  with 
sulphur,  which  hurts  like  fire;  but  one 
is  cured  in  about  five  days  —  until  one 
catches  it  again. 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  39 

April  3.  I  spent  the  night  at  our  ad- 
vanced post  at  Cappy.  The  town  is  in 
ruins.  There  was  no  call  for  the  trenches, 
the  night  was  too  clear.  I  awoke  about 
4  A.M.,  thinking  it  was  late  because  I  heard 
the  birds  chirping;  and  found  it  was  only 
the  rats  squeaking.  The  place  is  full  of 
them.  They  walk  over  you  at  night,  but 
nobody  cares.  We  sleep  on  the  stretchers, 
which  are  quite  comfortable.  The  town 
is  shelled  every  day  at  intervals.  The 
"  Germs  "  threw  a  few  shrapnel  into  it 
this  morning,  but  it  did  no  damage.  We 
ducked  around  the  corner  when  one 
whistled  close  overhead,  but  it  fell  in  a 
field  beyond.  We  came  back  here  to 
Mericourt  for  breakfast.  The  country  is 
full  of  quail  and  hares,  but  no  one  both- 
ers them  and  they  are  very  tame.  There 
is  considerable  aeroplane  shelling;  but  the 
"Germs"  are  so  high  up  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  hit  them.  All  the  soldiers 
with  whom  I  talk  are  keen  for  the  war  to 
cease,  and  every  one  hopes  it  will  be  over 
before  another  winter.  I  hear  that  we 
may  move  away  from  here,  and  go  into 


40    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

**repos"  with  the  Sixth  Army  for  about 
a  month,  prior  to  the  big  attack  in  the 
Champagne,  but,  of  course  it  is  only  a 
rumor. 

April  5.  I  watched  the  twenty-first 
"Suicide  Club"  practicing  hand-grenade 
throwing  this  morning.  Magoun^  and  I 
noted  where  the  things  were  thrown,  with 
the  idea  of  picking  up  a  few  "fusees"  af- 
terwards. The  grenades  are  pear-shaped, 
with  a  little  sort  of  trigger  and  a  ribbon 
with  a  button.  The  button  is  placed  be- 
tween the  third  and  little  fingers  exactly  as 
one  would  spin  a  top ;  then  you  throw,  and 
as  the  missile  leaves  the  hand,  the  pull  of 
the  ribbon  and  button  relieves  the  spring 
which  in  turn  relieves  the  contact  point, 
so  that  when  the  grenade  lands  it  explodes. 
Now  and  then  they  don't  land  right,  so 
Magoun  later  picked  up  a  couple  of  un- 
exploded  ones  and  offered  me  one.  I  de- 
clined and  told  him  he  had  better  let 
them  alone. 

Just  as  we  were  arguing,  up  came  a  file 

^  Francis  P.  Magoun,  Harvard;  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts. 


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AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  41 

of  men  with  shovels  to  bury  the  unfired 
grenades.  When  they  saw  Magoun  with 
two  in  his  hands  they  nearly  had  a  fit;  said 
he  was  crazy,  and  to  prove  it  they  told  us 
to  get  in  a  near-by  trench  and  they  'd  show 
us.  We  all  crawled  in,  and  an  expert  then 
recocked  the  little  spring  and  threw  the 
grenade.  She  went  off  with  a  bang  that 
shook  the  trench! 

Oddly  enough,  that  evening  we  got  a  call 
to  carry  two  "blesses"  just  as  we  were  sit- 
ting down  to  dinner.  It  was  my  turn  to  go, 
so  I  trailed  down  to  the  "poste  de  se- 
cours,"  minus  dinner.  Found  one  man 
with  his  face  blown  off  and  another  one 
with  his  feet  blown  off.  They  told  me  he 
had  been  injured  "fishing"  in  the  canal. 
It  appears  that  they  threw  hand-grenades 
in  and  collected  the  dead  fish  which 
floated  up  to  the  surface:  a  nice,  sporting 
thing  to  do !  I  must  say  I  could  n't  feel 
very  sorry  for  them.  The  same  night  we 
heard  a  heavy  explosion  close  to  our  farm 
and  supposed  it  was  an  incoming  obus. 
Shortly  after,  a  call  came  and  we  collected 
three  more  poor  fools  hurt,  and  three  dead, 


42    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

from  fiddling  with  hand-grenades.  It  oc- 
curred in  the  back  room  of  the  cafe  in 
which  we  eat.  I  made  it  a  point  to  rub  it 
into  Magoun,  who  is  a  kid  just  out  of  col- 
lege. That  day,  in  our  Sector,  the  French 
lost  more  men  through  their  own  careless- 
ness than  from  Boche  activity. 

I  have  been  put  in  charge  of  the  gaso- 
line, oil,  and  tire  supplies.  Not  a  particu- 
larly cheerful  job,  as  it  cuts  me  out  of  a 
good  deal  of  motoring.  I  must  be  at  the 
Store  between  7.30  and  9  a.m.  and  be- 
tween 5  and  7  p.m.  The  "Germs"  made 
a  little  coup  last  night,  capturing  about 
sixty  French  and  a  small  outpost  trench. 
The  regiment  which  suffered  the  loss  is 
now  expected  to  retaliate  in  kind. 

April  7.  Collecting  war  trophies  seems 
to  be  the  chief  recreation.  It  reminds  me 
somewhat  of  the  old  marble  days  when  one 
traded  a  clouded  agate  for  two  glass  ones. 
A  German  "77"  aluminum  "fusee"  is 
more  prized  than  one  made  entirely  of 
brass.  The  "105's"  and  "150's"  are  still 
rarer,  and  the  Austrian  "360's"  are  the 
best  of  all.    Then,  they  trade  hand-gren- 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  43 

ades  and  swap  all  sorts  of  other  odds  and 
ends.  They  also  make  various  little  trink- 
ets, like  inkstands,  match-cases,  vases, 
out  of  the  "75's.'*  If  the  men  worked  as 
hard  on  keeping  their  cars  tuned  up  as 
they  do  making  souvenirs,  this  would  be 
the  best  Section  ever. 

I  have  been  switched  on  to  Victor 
White's  car.  He  is  an  artist,  and  quite  a 
good  one,  and  they  let  him  off  for  a  week 
or  so  occasionally  to  paint  war  pictures. 
With  true  artistic  temperament,  he  leaves 
his  car  in  a  rather  sketchy  condition,  and 
I  spent  most  of  yesterday  on  my  back 
under  it  cleaning  the  gasoline  line.  His 
brake  does  not  hold,  nor  does  the  high 
gear,  so  chasing  "blesses"  with  it  is  no 
merry  jest. 

April  9.  Being  "Chow"  yesterday  I 
spent  the  day  fixing  White's  car.  ("  Chow  " 
means  the  man  who  sets  the  table  and 
waits  for  the  day.  Each  takes  it  by  turns, 
but  as  we  eat  everything  out  of  the  same 
plate  with  the  same  fork  and  knife,  there 
is  no  great  strain  upon  the  "Admirable 
Crichton"  on  duty).  April  7th  was  a  busy 


44    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

day.  After  I  started  this  diary  I  was 
called  out  at  4  p.m.  for  four  "couches"  at 
the  front  lines,  Barraquette-Faucaucourt. 
The  Medecin  Chef  there  lives  in  what 
used  to  be  a  drain  under  the  main  road, 
between  Brussels  and  Amiens.  The 
"Germs"  are  within  eight  hundred  yards 
and  a  battery  of  "  75's  "  keeps  going  stead- 
ily on  the  left  side  of  the  road.  On  the 
right  are  some  big  mortars  which  fire  oc- 
casionally. The  place  is  pockmarked  with 
shell-holes.  I  got  four  "assis"  the  first 
time.  I  got  back  just  before  dinner,  and 
was  called  again  to  the  aeroplane  section 
at  Moreuil.  Missed  dinner,  but  ate  with 
one  of  the  "  brancardiers "  at  Villers- 
Bretonneux.  He  is  a  funny  little  guy.  I 
meet  him  all  the  time  carrying  wounded. 
He  has  the  Croix  de  Guerre  with  a  star. 

I  got  back  at  10.30  p.m.  The  car  was 
stalled  four  times!  Pitch  black:  gasoline 
tank  full  of  dirt.  I  could  n't  take  it  down 
in  the  dark,  so  simply  disconnected  pipe  to 
carburetor  and  pumped  air  through  it 
mih.  tire  pumps.  Had  to  do  it  several 
iimes,  as  dirt  kept  accumulating  and  I 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  45 

did  not  dare  keep  wounded  waiting.  Win- 
sor^  had  one  die  on  him  the  same  night. 
I  got  back  to  bed  about  11  p.m.  and  was 
just  going  to  sleep  when  a  call  came  from 
Barraquette  again.  The  wretched  car 
would  hardly  run  and  it  was  brutally  cold, 
but,  of  course,  it  had  to  be  done.  After 
passing  Proyant,  lights  are  ordered  out. 
The  "Germs"  make  a  point  of  shelling 
any  moving  light  on  the  chance  of  catch- 
ing a  convoy  or  reinforcements.  I  got 
through  all  right  by  aid  of  the  star  shells, 
although  challenged  by  the  sentry.  I  had 
forgotten  to  get  the  password,  but  he 
looked  me  over  and  said  it  was  O.K. 

Upon  reaching  Barraquette  I  found  one 
contagious  "couche."  There  was  heavy 
shelling.  I  got  to  Villers-Bretonneux  at 
12.30,  with  engine  running  badly.  A  half- 
hour  of  red  tape  before  they  would  take  in 
my  man.  The  Medecin  Chef  was  out,  and 
the  concierge  had  to  chase  all  over  the  vil- 
lage to  find  him.  Then  he  wanted  me  to 
take  him  to  Amiens;  but  I  told  him  the 

*  Charles  P.  Winsor,  Harvard;  Concord,  Massa- 
chusetts. 


46    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

car  couldn't  make  it;  so  he  took  him  in 
finally. 

Coming  home  alone  was  poor  fun.  Two 
more  stops  to  blow  the  dirt  out.  I  got  here 
at  3  A.M.,  and  had  to  be  up  at  6.30  to  set 
the  table,  being  "Chow."  It's  a  great 
life,  though;  I  would  n't  miss  it  for  worlds. 
We  have  a  lot  of  fun  on  the  side;  play  base- 
ball and  a  funny  sort  of  adaptation  of 
tennis  with  a  hoop.  At  night  we  play 
roulette  for  centime  stakes,  and  occasion- 
ally we  fish  for  pike  with  a  sort  of  trident 
made  out  of  old  Ford  brake  rods.  We 
swim  now  and  then  when  it's  warm. 

Old  Rapp,  the  mechanic  in  charge  of 
the  shop,  is  a  regular  character  and  an  aw- 
fully good  fellow.  We  have  lots  of  fun  with 
him.  We  teach  him  every  possible  sort  of 
fantastic  English  swear  words  as  English, 
and  he  repeats  them  like  a  parrot.  We 
tell  him  some  of  the  most  fearful  things 
are  words  of  greeting,  and  now  and  then 
he  springs  them  on  an  Englishman  or  a 
new  recruit,  and  the  effect  naturally  is 
rather  startling  to  the  uninitiated.  I  gave 
some  essence  and  cigarettes  to  one  of  the 


AT  THE   FRONT  AT  LAST  47 

26th  to-day  and  in  return  he  fixed  my 
legging.  He  turned  out  to  be  an  expert 
saddle-maker ! 

Sunday,  April  10.  I  went  the  round 
(Barraquette)  but  found  no  wounded,  and 
came  back  and  took  a  walk  with  Edwards^ 
and  Underhill.^  Saw  a  very  interesting 
lot  of  English  canal-boat  hospitals  up  the 
river.  I  stopped  in  to  ask  after  A.  B.'s 
brother,  but  he  is  not  with  that  Section. 
I  witnessed  a  rather  impressive  religious 
service  on  one  of  the  gun-boats  on  the 
canal.  The  pulpit,  flanked  by  machine 
guns,  and  the  altar,  lighted  by  an  auto- 
mobile headlight,  looked  quite  dramatic. 
The  priests'  army  uniforms  are  the  best- 
looking  of  any.  Black,  with  red  edgings 
cut  in  regular  cavalry  or  artillery  style, 
with  black  and  red  fatigue  caps  and  gold 
insignia.  The  first  time  I  saw  one  I  thought 
he  must  be  General  Joffre  at  the  very  least. 

In  the  afternoon  Woolverton^  had  a 
funny  experience.     He  was  asked  by  an 

*  L.  Brooke  Edwards,  Philadelphia. 
^  John   G.   Underhill,   Williams  College;   Flushing, 
New  York. 

»  William  H.  Woolverton,  Yale;  New  York  City.  , 


48    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FILVVER 

officer  at  Chuignes  to  take  him  and  his 
orderly  to  Villers-Bretonneux.  On  the 
way  they  passed  some  quail,  so  the  offi- 
cer ordered  the  car  stopped  and  they  got 
out  with  army  rifles  ( !  !)  to  shoot  at  them. 
If  they  had  hit  one  there  would  have  been 
no  bird  left.  Incidentally  it  was  Sunday 
and  out  of  season  as  well;  thus  they  were 
breaking  about  a  dozen  laws  and  Ambu- 
lance rules.  Meantime  some  English 
motor-lorreys  came  along  and  all  stopped 
to  watch  the  shooting.  In  fact,  the  war 
ceased  to  exist  for  about  an  hour!  Wool- 
verton  thought  the  story  too  good  to  keep 
and  told  it  at  dinner,  and  got  severely 
called  down,  of  course,  by  the  lieutenant. 
We  now  call  him  the  Big  Game  Hunter. 

A  German  aeroplane  was  brought  down 
by  the  English  to-day  amid  cheers  from 
the  onlookers.  New  French  aeroplane 
sheds  have  been  erected  between  here  and 
Villers-Bretonneux.  A  lot  of  big  English 
guns  turned  up  to-day  and  are  now  along 
the  line  back  of  Chuignes  to  Barraquette. 
A  big  army  of  Russians  also  is  said  to  be 
here,  as  well  as  Serbians  and  Italians. 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  49 

Two  "Germ"  prisoners  were  captured 
at  Gappy.  The  way  they  catch  them  is 
to  creep  out  at  night  with  an  automatic 
pistol  and  hold  up  the  observation  posts. 
Any  "poilu"  who  "pulls  the  stunt"  gets 
ten  days'  holiday  and  the  Groix.  One 
man  has  fifty  days'  leave  coming  to  him 
already.  The  first-line  trenches  are  prac- 
tically deserted  except  for  sentinels. 

The  French  have  succeeded  in  placing, 
in  addition  to  the  machine  guns,  a  num- 
ber of  "75's"  right  in  the  first  line!  — 
only  two  hundred  yards  from  the  "  Germs  " 
in  spots.  The  General  Staff  has  moved 
to  Villers-Bretonneux.  Huge  amounts  of 
supplies  are  coming  in  and  numbers  of 
large  ambulances  (French  army).  The 
Fourth  English  Army  across  the  canal  is 
also  being  heavily  munitioned,  and  the 
Second  French  Army  has  come  up  to  back 
up  the  Junction  of  the  Fourth  English 
and  our  Sixth.  It  looks  as  if  something 
were  in  the  wind.  The  new  French  canal- 
boat  ironclads  are  about  finished,  too. 
They  are  right  back  of  our  quarters  here 
at  Mericourt.  They  carry  machine  guns. 


50    AT  THE   FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

anti-aero  guns,  and  one  big  six-  or  seven- 
inch  naval  gun  in  a  turret.  They  are  only 
about  a  hundred  feet  long,  very  low  free- 
board, and  draw  about  three  feet  of  water. 
The  "Germs"  have  a  hard  time  spotting 
them,  as  they  keep  moving  up  and  down 
the  canal. 

April  11.  We  had  a  busy  night  last 
night.  French  aeroplanes  raided  Peronne. 
Boche  shrapnel  made  wonderful  fireworks; 
but  nothing  was  hit.  Then  a  Zeppelin 
tried  to  drop  bombs  on  Villers-Breton- 
neux,  but  got  spotted  by  the  search-lights 
and  retired.  Then  the  "Germs"  shelled 
Cappy.  Woolverton  and  Bowman^  were 
stationed  there  for  the  night,  and  a  shell 
("77")  fell  through  the  roof.  They  and 
the  "  brancardiers "  beat  it  for  the  cellar. 
No  one  was  hurt. 

Raining  to-day.  The  roads  are  awfully 
slippery.  Some  of  the  "brancardiers"  at 
Cappy  pulled  a  joke  on  the  Medecin  Chef; 
they  hung  one  of  the  men  across  the  pole 
with  which  they  bring  in  the  dead  and 
marched    solemnly   into    the    "poste   de 

*  Robert  Bowman,  Yale;  Lake  Forest,  Illinois. 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  51 

secours."  There  the  corpse  came  to  life 
and  asked  for  coffee! 

April  14.  I  spent  last  night  at  the  ad- 
vance post  at  Cappy.  There  was  only 
about  a  half-hour  of  shelling.  The  cres- 
cendo whistles  always  sound  worse  than 
they  are.  Most  of  the  "77's"  and  "  105's" 
fell  to  the  north  of  the  town,  seeking  the 
big  English  naval  guns. 

All  sorts  of  jobs  fall  to  the  lot  of  an 
American  Ambulance  man!  To-day,  I 
posed  with  Victor  White,  the  Irish  artist, 
for  the  French  artist,  Tardieu.  He  has  a 
Legion  of  Honor  and  other  medals  and  is 
very  well  known.  White  took  the  part  of 
a  French  "blesse,"  and  I  was  the  Ambu- 
lance man  helping  him  to  the  car.  The 
picture  is  to  be  used  as  a  poster  for  the  ad- 
vertisement of  a  "movie"  of  our  Section, 
recently  taken  to  be  shown  in  America. 

April  15.  I  am  back  at  Cappy  again, 
although  it's  not  my  turn.  The  weather 
has  been  so  bad  that  half  the  cars  are 
in  the  repair  shop.  Also,  several  men  are 
going  away  on  the  usual  six  days'  furlough 
granted  every  three  months.    Things  are 


52    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

quiet  so  far.  The  big  French  mortar  shakes 
the  house  at  about  fifteen-minute  inter- 
vals, but  the  Germans  are  not  replying. 
There  was  heavy  firing  late  in  the  after- 
noon; more  rifles  and  mitrailleuses  shoot 
ing  than  I  have  yet  heard.  Many  wounded 
are  coming  in.  I  carried  three  hit  through 
the  lungs  by  mitrailleuse;  one  lived  only 
an  hour  after  I  brought  him  back  from 
Eclusier. 

Bright  moonlight  made  the  slippery 
canal  bank  easier  to  negotiate  than  usual, 
although  it  is  always  a  ticklish  business,  as 
one  cannot  use  lights,  being  in  plain  view 
and  only  two  kilometers  from  the  Germans. 
The  poor  fellow  could  n't  breathe,  but  did 
not  think  he  was  going  to  die.  The  sur- 
geons naturally  let  him  be  and  looked  after 
the  others  —  which  irritated  him.  I  asked 
if  they  could  n't  give  him  morphia  or  some- 
thing, but  they  said  they  had  none  to  spare 
on  a  dying  man.  He  passed  away  about 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  then  started 
back  to  Cerisy  with  three  "  couches"  — 
two  badly  wounded.  I  had  to  rout  out 
the  hospital  authorities,  as  all  were  asleep. 


THE   FRENCH    ARTIST   TARDIEU 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  53 

I  got  there  at  3  a.m.,  and  got  back  to 
Cappy  at  4.  All  lights  were  out  as  usual. 
I  slept  till  7,  then  took  four  more  down  to 
Mericourt.  Some  work !  I  found  after  the 
moonlight  Eclusier  trip  that  all  the  bolts 
on  the  steering-post  had  loosened!  If  I 
had  gone  much  farther  I  must  have  lost 
control  and  probably  have  gone  into  the 
canal !  I  fixed  it  up  by  moonlight  with  the 
aid  of  an  electric  torch,  and  got  back  here 
at  Mericourt  for  breakfast. 

April  17.  I  took  the  Medecin  Divi- 
sionnaire  to  Fontaine-Cappy,  the  most 
advanced  post  of  all,  where  we  are  not  al- 
lowed to  go  except  with  a  "big  guy."  I 
am  now  waiting  for  him.  He  is  making  an 
inspection  of  the  front  trench,  "bran- 
cardiers,"  and  the  rest.    On  his  return 

they  brought   in   another   d d    fool. 

This  one  had  injured  himself  by  making 
souvenir  rings.  He  poured  some  liquid 
aluminum  in  a  casting  which  had  water  in 
it  and  it  blew  his  eyes  out!  I  took  him  to 
Cerisy.  There  have  been  a  large  number 
of  casualties  among  the  souvenir-makers 
and  the  hunters;  and,  as  often  the  shells 


54    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

have  not  exploded  entirely,  many  hands 
and  eyes  are  injured  in  working  on  them. 

Some  of  our  men  have  had  accidents  on 
account  of  bad  roads.  End  ^  and  Nelson  ^ 
each  smashed  wheels,  skidding  into  trees, 
while  Imbrie  ^  turned  completely  upside 
down,  but  was  unhurt.  The  car  was  empty 
at  the  time. 

April  19.  Rain,  rain,  rain,  nothing  but 
rain  and  mud.    The  roads  are  frightful. 

F is  back,  cured  of  the  "gale."    The 

doctors  say  it  is  a  regular  germ  and  is 
caught  in  the  trenches  and  is  transferred 
by  blankets,  clothes,  rats,  etc.  Another 
fellow  of  the  squad  has  it  now.  "Vic,"  the 
fox  terrier  which  we  got  for  protection 
against  the  rats,  is  more  scared  of  them 
than  we  are.  He  hides  in  the  beds  at 
night!  VS^oolverton  had  his  jacket-pocket 
eaten  off  last  night  by  rats  which  were 
after  some  chocolate  he  had  in  it. 

A  number  of  the  "blesses"  we  carry,  I 

^  George  K.  End,  Swarthmore-Columbia;  New  York 
City. 

'  David  T.  Nelson,  University  of  North  Dakota; 
Mayville,  North  Dakota. 

'  Robert  W.  Imbrie,  Washington. 


AT  THE  FRONT  AT  LAST  55 

have  noticed,  are  marked  with  the  fleur- 
de-lys,  meaning  that  they  have  been  at 
one  time  convicts.  The  Government, 
shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  gave 
prisoners  of  this  kind  the  choice  of  enter- 
ing the  army  —  which  most  of  them  did. 
They  are  nicknamed  "les  joyeux,'*  as 
they  are  only  too  happy  to  be  free,  and 
they  are  exceedingly  reckless,  as  a  mention 
or  Croix  de  Guerre  carries  with  it  a  re- 
duction of  sentence. 

Woolverton  leaves  to-morrow  and  is 
kind  enough  to  take  this  section  of  my 
diary  back  for  me.  Please  take  care  of  it, 
as  I  want  to  preserve  a  personal  record 
of  the  Big  War,  even  if  my  part  in  it  is 
less  in  size  than  the  proverbial  nit  on  a 
gnat's  nut! 


CHAPTER  IV 

ON    LES   AURA 

Being  an  ode  to  the  Vivandiire,  191^-17 

"SWEETIE" 

"Sweetie  has  a  face  like  a  tadpole; 
Sweetie  has  legs  like  a  frog; 
Sweetie  has  a  shape  like  a  kangaroo;    ' 
Sweetie  has  hair  like  a  hog; 
Sweetie  has  teeth  like  a  crocodile; 
Sweetie  has  a  hand  like  a  ham; 
Sweetie  has  a  skin  like  an  elephant's  ear. 
But  Sweetie  don't  give  a  D ." 

Easter  Sunday,  April  23.  Nelson,  my 
room-mate  and  side  partner  (we  ran  No. 
2  and  No.  1  cars  respectively),  left  to- 
day to  return  to  Oxford  to  finish  his 
course.  Sorry  to  lose  him.  Before  he  joined 
the  American  Ambulance,  he  worked  with 
the  Belgian  Commission,  distributing  food. 
He  says  the  German  Government  on  the 
whole  acted  fairly  well,  but  that  the  officers 
tried  to  work  all  sorts  of  graft.  He  thinks 
that  comparatively  few  of  the  Belgians 
would  be  satisfied  to  quit  and  submit  to 
German  rule. 


ON  LES  AURA  57 

More  moving  pictures  were  taken  to-day 
of  our  Section.  The  films  certainly  should 
boost  the  American  Ambulance.  Although 
they  are  not  faked,  of  course,  only  the 
most  thrilling  stunts  we  do  were  taken. 
They  can't,  for  instance,  depict  the  end- 
less car-cleaning,  the  fumigating,  and 
many  such  dry  details.  Being  Easter, 
we  were  treated  to  eggs,  not  only  at 
headquarters,  but  even  here  at  Cappy, 
where  it  was  just  my  luck  to  get  planted 
for  twenty-four  hours.  However,  the 
weather  is  fine  and  it  is  interesting  to 
watch  the  aeroplanes.  There  is  heavy  fir- 
ing at  intervals,  especially  at  the  aircraft. 

Mile.  Flore  Granger,  the  only  woman 
left  at  Cappy,  made  good  her  promise  of 
last  week  and  wrote  out  some  of  the  songs 
she  sings  to  the  soldiers.  They  all  love 
her  fondly.  She  washes  their  clothes  and 
tends  to  their  wants  in  the  most  cheerful 
manner,  though  forced  to  live  in  a  dug- 
out, under  constant  shell-fire  and  only 
a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  Germans. 
On  account  of  a  slight  limp,  she  is  known 
as  "La  Boiteuse." 


58    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

CHANSON  D'CAPPY 

PAR   MLLE.    FLORE   GRANGER 

(Sung  in  the  trenches  on  the  Somme) 

LES  TRANCHEESDE  DOMPIERRE 

Aux  abords  de  Dompierre 

En  face  de  I'ennemi, 

Pres  des  amas  de  pierres  — 

Restants  d'la  sucrerie. 

Dans  les  tranchees 

Des  peupliers, 

Vite  on  se  faufile  en  cachette, 

Braquant  son  fusil 

Sur  I'ennemi 

Pr^t  a  presser  sur  la  g^chette. 

RETRAIN 

Aux  environs  d'Cappy, 

Lorsque  descend  la  nuit, 

Dans  les  boyaux  on  s'debine  en  cachette. 

Car  la  mitraille  fait  baisser  la  tete. 

Si  parfois  un  obus 

Fait  tomber  un  poilu, 

Dans  un  fosse  Ton  coUe  ses  debris 

Aux  environs  d'Cappy. 

Via  la  soupe  qui  s'acheve. 

On  prepare  son  fourbi, 

Car  ce  soir  c'est  la  r'lfeve  —  ■ 

On  va  quitter  Cappy. 

Des  provisions, 

Et  son  bidon, 

C'est  c'que  jamais  Ton  oublie; 

Du  p'tit  bois. 


MLLE.  FLORE  GKANGER 
The  only  woiuau  in  Cappy 


ON  LES  AURA  59 

Je  connais  I'endroit 

Ou  I'on  doit  servir  sa  patrie. 

REFRAIN 

Aux  environs  d'Cappy, 

Lorsque  descend  la  nuit, 

Comme  il  ne  pent  coucher 

Dans  une  chambrette, 

L'brave  soldat  se  prepare  une  couchette 

Dans  un  trou  tenebreux, 

Faisant  des  reves  affreux. 

II  se  reveille  pour  veiller  I'ennemi 

Aux  environs  d'Cappy. 

The  Third  Division  goes  into  *'repos" 
this  week,  and  it  is  not  certain  whether  we 
follow  them  or  remain,  connecting  up  with 
the  replacing  division  (the  Second) .  The 
English  are  gradually  spreading  eastward. 
I  saw  some  Indian  troops  to-day  for  the 
first  time :  very  picturesque,  but  gracious ! 
how  those  turbans  must  breed  vermin! 
The  Russians  are  also  arriving  in  consid- 
erable quantities  together  with  enormous 
stores  of  ammunition.  Large  numbers  of 
additional  trenches  and  wire  entangle- 
ments are  being  built,  and  altogether  it 
looks  as  if  something  big  were  afoot. 

April  27.  Lieutenant  de  Kersauson  de 
Pennendreff ,  our  boss,  has  had  an  interest- 


60    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

ing  life.  He  was  with  the  Boers  against 
the  English,  and  says  they  subsisted  al- 
most entirely  on  the  supplies  captured 
from  the  English.  They  had  more  rifles 
and  munitions  than  they  had  men  to  handle 
them  and  they  buried  large  quantities  for 
future  use.  He  says  he  thinks  trench  war- 
fare first  began  in  that  war.  When  the  Big 
War  broke  out,  he  was  selling  autos  in 
California.  He  came  back  and  was  made 
Lieutenant  of  Automobiles  and  later  took 
over  Section  No.  1  of  the  American  Am- 
bulance. He  is  a  marquis  and  belongs  to 
an  old  Breton  family. 

To  see  a  French  regiment  going  to  at- 
tack is  interesting.  They  are  all  ordered 
to  put  on  clean  underclothes,  as  this 
prevents  infection  of  wounds  when  the 
bullets  pass  through  their  clothing.  The 
men  kiss  each  other  good-bye,  send  all 
their  little  knick-knacks  and  valuables 
back,  and  make  their  wills.  They  regard 
it  as  practically  certain  death  or  disable- 
ment. 

April  28.  All  peasants  have  been  or- 
dered  out   of   Mericourt.    It  looks  like 


ON  LES  AURA  61 

something  doing.  Carson^  is  leaving  to 
join  the  new  auto  repair  section  near  Paris, 
so  I  get  his  car,  old  No.  10,  —  an  awful 
lemon,  —  said  to  have  been  through  the 
battle  of  the  Marne.^  All  gift  cars  have  the 
names  of  the  donors  painted  on  the  side 
of  the  seat.  It  is  certainly  tough,  after 
spending  two  weeks  tuning  up  White's  car 
so  that  it  would  really  run.  Now  the  work 
has  to  be  done  all  over  again.  I  had  to  put 
in  a  new  rear  axle,  new  high  gear,  new  glass 
in  acetylene  lamps,  clean  and  adjust  com- 
mutator and  vibrator  and  spark  plugs; 
otherwise,  **No.  10  was  in  perfect  condi- 
tion"! 

A  Boche  aero  passed  over  us  to-day  and 
English  and  French  shrapnel  pieces  fell 
all  around  us  as  they  shelled  it.  The 
whistling  was  anything  but  pleasant.  Two 
German  "avions"  were  brought  down 
to-day.  One  man  was  captured,  the  other 
was  killed.  We  had  an  inspection  by  the 
head  of  the  Auto  Section  yesterday.    He 

^  James  L,  Carson,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

*  No.  10  was  the  car  driven  by  Leslie  Buswell  at 
Pont-^-Mousson,  and  the  subject  of  his  delightful  book 
"Ambulance  No.  10." 


62    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

picked  on  us  a  good  deal  at  the  time,  but 
told  the  Lieutenant  afterwards  that  he 
was  much  pleased.  He  couldn't,  of  course, 
understand  how  anything  so  crudely 
thrown  together  as  a  Ford  would  run  at 
all.  Campbell,^  Francklyn,^  and  White  are 
back  from  their  six  days'  furlough  and  one 
new  man,  Culbertson,^  of  Princeton,  1911. 
The  Section  is  now  full.  Cunningham  * 
is  also  back  with  us,  having  finally  been 
able  to  tear  himself  away  from  the  charms 
of  Paris.  He's  already  looking  better. 
Roche,  Magoun,  Francklyn,  and  I  now 
occupy  the  palatial  apartment  known  as 
the  *' rat-incubator."  Some  of  the  boys 
have  erected  a  tent  —  Underbill,  Baylies,^ 
and  Paul;^  as  they  were  above  us  in  the 
Rat  Hole,  and  their  feet  continually  kept 
coming  through  the  ceiling,  carrying  plas- 

»  Joshua  G.  B.  Campbell,  New  York  City. 
2  Giles  B.  Francklyn,  Lausanne. 
'  Tingle    Wood    Culbertson,    Princeton;   Sewickley, 
Pennsylvania. 

*  John  E.  Cunningham,  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology;  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

*  Frank  Leaman  Baylies,  New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts. 

«  Samuel  H.  Paul,  Chestnut  Hill,  Pennsylvania. 


"AMBULANCE    No.    10,"    DRIVEN    BY    W.    YORKE   STEVENSON   IN 
191G    ON   THE   SOMME  AND   AT   VERDUN 

One  of  tlie  ten  first  Ambulances  of  the  American  Field  Service.     The  gift  of 

Mrs.  William  K.  Vanderbilt,  in  1915.     Driven  by  Leslie  BuBwell 

in  1915  at  Pont-a-Mousson 


ON  LES  AURA  63 

ter  and  splinters  on  to  us,  we  are  now  more 
comfortable  and  clean,  although  Lewis, 
Lathrop,^  and  Edwards  are  still  up  there. 
"Huts"  Townsend,  White,  and  Wood- 
worth  ^  have  the  best  rooms  in  a  really  well- 
kept  house,  while  Sponagle,  Cunningham, 
and  Winsor  sleep  next  to  the  repair  shop. 
The  Lieutenant  and  other  Frenchmen  at- 
tached to  the  Section  sleep  in  the  Bureau, 
a  nice  little  well-kept  cottage  also.  The 
washing  is  done  by  a  nice  little  old  woman. 
She  hates  to  leave  and  hopes  to  stay 
despite  orders. 

May  1.  At  Cappy  for  twenty-four  hours, 
with  Imbrie  as  partner,  now  that  Nelson 
has  gone.  New  regime  here  with  the  Second 
in  charge.  We  eat  with  the  officers  now. 
They  say  there  will  be  a  French  offensive 
around  here  soon.  Another  Army,  the 
Tenth,  has  come  to  back  up  the  Sixth. 
The  General  of  the  Sixth  is  FayoUe;  the 
General  of  the  First  Corps,  to  which  we 
are  attached,  is  Berdoulet.   There  is  much 

*  Julian  L.  Lathrop,  Harvard;  New  Hope,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

^  Benjamin  R.  Woodworth,  Germantown,  Penn- 
sylvania. 


64    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

hot  air  among  our  men  about  the  chances 
of  getting  the  Croix  de  Guerre.  They 
ought  to  consider  themselves  well  off  if 
they  don't  get  the  Croix  de  Bois ! 

The  English  repulsed  a  Boche  attack 
night  before  last  about  a  kilometer  from 
here  and  turned  it  into  a  small  massacre, 
only  losing  six  or  eight  men  themselves. 
The  "Germs"  are  beginning  to  show  con- 
siderable activity  against  the  English,  and 
rumor  has  it  that  they  are  moving  their 
big  guns  from  Verdun  toward  the  western 
end  of  the  line  near  the  Belgian  front  and 
English  left.  The  official  rat-catcher  was 
brought  down  to  Mericourt,  but  as  far 
as  results  go  he  only  appears  to  have 
made  them  more  active  by  disturbing 
them.  The  French  are  firing  about  four 
shells  to  one  of  the  Germans  now,  and  are 
using  more  large  shells,  "90's,"  "105's,'* 
and  "220's."  They  also  have  a  new  "400," 
said  to  surpass  the  German  "420,"  and 
rumor  has  it  that  both  the  English  and 
French  are  testing  out  a  new  "520"! 

Last  night  at  Cappy  was  some  night! 
Eighteen  shells  dropped  on  the  town  and 


ON  LES  AURA  65 

four  hit  the  hospital  while  Imbrie  and  I 
were  in  it.  Imbrie  was  reading  in  the  front 
room  and  I  was  in  bed  snatching  a  snooze 
before  the  expected  night  call.  We  heard 
the  incessant  whistle  and  crashes,  one 
right  after  the  other.  Being  only  half- 
dressed,  I  figured  it  would  be  just  as  well 
to  stay  where  I  was  as  to  go  down  to  the 
bomb-proof,  as  the  firing  would  probably 
be  over  before  I  was  ready  — which  proved 
to  be  the  case.  One  shell  came  right  through 
the  mortuary  window  and  burst,  leaving 
nothing  of  the  room  but  scraps.  Luckily  no 
bodies  happened  to  be  there.  Two  others 
hit  Castellane's  wardroom,  one  about  the 
door  and  the  other  at  the  step,  rocking  the 
house,  which,  if  it  had  not  been  substan- 
tially built  of  brick  as  a  municipal  and 
school  building,  would  have  collapsed.  The 
fourth  landed  on  my  side,  and  I  could 
hear  the  pieces  rattle  through  the  trees. 
One  sliver  went  slap  through  the  front  of 
my  car,  and  I  found  it  in  the  back  of  it 
this  morning.  This  is  the  first  time  one 
of  the  cars  of  this  Section  has  been  di- 
rectly hit,   although  several  have  been 


66    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

scarred  by  flying  bits  of  scenery.  Aft^ 
firing  the  salvo  of  shots  which  lasted  about 
ten  minutes,  although  it  seemed  an  hour, 
the  Boches  were  silenced  by  heavy  shelling 
from  both  English  and  French. 

I  got  a  call  for  Eclusier  (the  bad  canal 
run)  and  got  two  men.  Imbrie  also  got  a 
call,  and  thereafter  we  were  running  until 
9  A.M.;  the  most  active  session  I  have  had 
yet.  They  shelled  Cappy  again  just  after 
I  left.  Apparently  they  were  either  after 
one  of  the  little  gunboats  which  had  just 
arrived  up  from  Mericourt  or  the  extensive 
diggings  around  the  hospital,  making 
bomb-proofs  for  "blesses."  From  an  aero- 
plane the  latter  may  have  looked  like  en- 
trenchments or  emplacements  for  guns. 

May  6.  I  broke  the  rear  axle  yesterday 
while  on  "Bureau."  "Bureau"  is  the  car 
that  takes  extra  calls  when  all  the  others 
are  busy.  There  are  first  and  second 
"Bureau"  men  who  relieve  each  other. 
Then  there  are  four  replacement  cars  to 
take  on  any  route  over  which  a  regular 
has  come  to  grief.  The  order  changes  every 
day  so  that  every  one  gets  a  turn  at  the  va- 


ON  LES  AURA  67 

rious  runs,  replacements,  and  "repos."  It 
takes  about  a  week  before  one's  turn  re- 
peats. I  ran  all  day  on  "Bureau"  calls 
—  about  one  hundred  miles.  The  first  call 
was  at  7  a.m.;  the  last  at  11  p.m.,  carry- 
ing four  "  assis  "  from  Faucaucourt  (within 
rifle  range  of  the  Germans),  on  the  per- 
fectly level  Amiens-St.  Quentin  route. 
The  engine  began  to  race  and  the  car 
slipped.  Luckily  Brooke  Edwards  was 
with  me  as  orderly,  and  he  ran  a  kilo- 
meter to  Lamotte  and  'phoned  for  an 
extra  car.  Imbrie  came  and  took  the 
"blesses"  (they  had  blown  themselves  up 
with  blasting  powder  working  in  a  mine 
tunnel).  I  slept  in  the  car  all  night  in  the 
rain  on  a  stretcher  covered  with  blood.  I 
guess  I'll  get  "la  gale"  all  right  this  time. 
Every  now  and  then  somebody  would  poke 
his  hand  in  the  back  (the  road  was  full  of 
passing  soldiers)  and  wiggle  my  feet  and 
ask  if  I  was  dead  or  "blesse"  and  deserted 
by  the  driver.  I  had  to  explain  a  dozen 
times  to  well-meaning  "poilus"  that  I  was 
waiting  until  daylight  to  repair  the  car.  At 
9  A.M.  Sponagle  and  Francklyn  turned  up 


68    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

with  an  extra  car  and  we  got  it  in  by  2  — 
starving. 

May  7.  We  have  had  our  heads  chpped 
and  we  look  like  a  bunch  of  jailbirds.  It 
feels  fine,  however,  and  we  have  gone  the 
Section  2  bunch  one  better.  Growing 
beards  is  certainly  poor  sanitation.  Some 
of  the  men  left  little  scalp-locks  or  tiny 
points  like  devil's  horns  which  they  waxed. 
Of  course,  the  French  regard  us  as  "  bugs." 
The  Lieutenant  finally  vetoed  the  extra 
frills  as  undignified. 

May  8.  I  was  talking  to  Campbell  this 
morning  regarding  the  beauty  of  the  new 
run  to  Rennecourt  through  the  avenue  of 
blossoming  apple  trees,  saying  I  was  glad 
to  draw  it  this  morning.  Good  joke  on  me! 
As  I  started  down  the  said  avenue,  two 
shells  fell,  about  fifty  yards  ahead.  Need- 
less to  say  the  rest  of  the  view  became  a 
mere  blur,  as  I  opened  up  all  speed  and 
beat  it  past  the  shell-holes  before  any  more 
dropped  in.  I  got  a  blow-out  later,  but 
luckily  was  out  of  range.  ; 

May  9.  The  Lieutenant  took  Cunning- 
ham, Winsor,  Imbrie,  and  me  to  the  new 


ON  LES  AURA  69 

"poste  de  secours'*  on  foot  to-day,  by  the 
famous  sugar-house  of  Dompierre,  which 
has  been  destroyed  almost  entirely,  not  by 
shells,  but  by  machine  gun  and  rifle  fire,  so 
intense  has  been  the  fighting.  The  village 
is  still  held  by  the  Germans  to  date,  but 
the  French  hold  the  outskirts,  and  expect 
soon  to  take  the  whole  thing.  Songs  have 
already  been  written  about  the  sugar-house. 
We  were  between  the  first  and  second 
line  trenches  in  plain  sight  of  the  Germans 
and  within  easy  rifle  shot  (about  four  hun- 
dred yards).  It  is  very  interesting  to  see 
the  trenches  from  the  inside.  I  saw  piles 
of  aerial  torpedoes  and  other  munitions, 
including  telephone  posts  thirty  and  forty 
feet  underground!  One  "75"  was  within 
five  hundred  yards  of  the  Boches  and 
they  did  n't  know  it !  In  one  of  the  new 
posts  we  have  to  stop  our  motors  about 
fifty  yards  away  and  turn  the  cars  by  hand, 
as  the  noise  of  backing  around  could  be 
heard  and  a  German  mitrailleuse  controls 
the  approach.  Needless  to  say  we  only  go 
there  at  night.  We  walked  miles  through 
the  trenches  and  could  easily  have  become 


70    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER      ^ 

lost  if  we  had  not  had  a  man  to  accompany 
us  at  intervals  as  we  entered  new  sections. 
The  men  seemed  comfortable  enough,  ex- 
cepting that  they  never  see  anything  but 
the  sky,  as  the  top  of  the  trench  is  a  couple 
of  feet  above  their  heads.  At  intervals  we 
passed  graves  of  those  killed  at  times  of 
great  activity  and  who  had  simply  been 
thrust  into  the  sides  and  pegged  there 
with  basket-work.  Rather  unpleasant 
on  wet  days  I  should  think.  Also  at  times 
the  trenches  pass  through  graveyards,  and 
here  again  coffin-heads  and  bones  occa- 
sionally stick  out  of  the  sides. 

May  10.  Victor  White  is  cited  by  the 
order  of  the  Division  "for  coolness,  effi- 
ciency, and  bravery  under  fire."  He  will 
get  the  Croix  and  everybody  is  delighted. 
He  was  loading  two  wounded  men  at 
Cappy  when  the  Germans  turned  loose 
their  shells  and  all  the  men  who  were  help- 
ing beat  it  for  the  cellar.  Vic  finished  the 
job  by  himself,  started  his  car,  and  drove 
the  men  down  out  of  shell-fire  to  Cerisy. 

A  funny  thing  happened  to  Lathrop. 
The  Boston  papers  came  out  with  long 


VlcrOK    WUITE 


ON  LES  AURA  71 

notices  of  his  death  under  fire.  His  family 
nearly  went  crazy  until  the  Paris  Ambu- 
lance wired  them  that  nothing  had  hap- 
pened; but  since  then  they  have  been 
receiving  letters  of  condolence.  No  explan- 
ation of  how  the  thing  started  has  been 
given,  as  no  one  has  even  been  hurt  here, 
and  only  one  man  has  been  killed  in  the 
whole  Ambulance  so  far  (Hall).  We  heard 
later  that  one  man  had  died  of  spinal  men- 
ingitis in  another  Section,  and  it  was  his 
death  that  caused  the  mix-up. 

May  12.  We  had  received  word  that  we 
were  to  be  inspected  yesterday  and  that 
White  and  Campbell  would  be  officially 
awarded  the  Croix  de  Guerre.  Everybody 
slicked  up,  shaved,  and  cleaned  rooms, 
yards,  and  cars,  but  nothing  happened 
—  the  General  sending  word  he  would  not 
be  able  to  come. 

White  and  Campbell  were  awarded  the 
crosses  because  they  were  the  oldest  and 
most  efficient  men  in  the  Section,  the 
Third  Division  General  having  allotted 
two  crosses  to  our  Section.  This  seemed 
to  be  the  fairest  way  to  do.    White  also 


72    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

got  a  special  mention  by  the  Second  Divi- 
sion, so  he  gets  two  stars,  a  very  unusual 
thing.  There  is  also  talk  of  giving  the 
whole  Section  the  Croix;  but  this  is  only 
a  rumor.  ^ 


May  15.  The  Chasseurs  d'Afrique  and 
Senegalese  have  a  uniform  practically 
like  the  English  khaki.  They  wear  red 
fezes  called  "kitshia";  but  the  inside  of 
these  is  yellow,  so  that  when  within  range 
they  simply  reverse  the  hats.  The  Second 
Colonials  have  a  fine  band,  —  the  first  I 
have  heard  at  the  Front,  —  and  we  have 
concerts  almost  every  day. 

I  got  the  old  "bus"  working  again  with 
a  new  motor,  new  rear  construction,  new 
wheels.  The  chief  remains  of  No.  10  are 
the  frame,  body,  insects,  and  radiator.  As 
all  the  replacing  parts  are  old,  anyway, 
the  chariot  is  no  ball  of  fire  at  that,  but 
she  wheezes  along  somehow. 

May  18.  We  are  here  at  Harbonnieres 
on  the  new  twenty-four  hour  service,  with 
the  Third  Division  —  four  of  us;  quiet 
nights  —  but  this  morning  an  aeroplane 

^  This  they  did  get  later.  See  preface,  pp.  xii-xiv. 


ON  LES  AURA  73 

fight  took  place  right  over  us.  Two  French 
machines  brought  down  a  German  who 
was  reconnoitering  over  our  Hues.  He 
landed  about  three  kilometers  within  our 
hnes. 

I  talked  to  an  old  French  farmer  who 
seemed  very  well  up  on  late  events.  He  said 
he  believed  Wilson  would  surely  be  de- 
feated at  the  next  election,  and  that  Roose- 
velt would  again  be  President.  In  common 
with  most  French  landowners  I  have  talked 
to,  he  felt  that  the  aftermath  of  the  war 
would  be  very  serious.  He  was  afraid  of  in- 
ternal troubles  over  the  partitioning  of  the 
spoils.  He  invited  me  to  his  farmhouse  and 
gave  me  a  glass  of  cider.  He  thinks  the 
Boches  are  by  no  means  done,  but  that 
they  are  on  the  wane.  He  looks  for  a  sec- 
ond battle  like  Verdun  here  on  the  Somme, 
as  this  is  a  naturally  weak  position,  being 
a  junction  of  the  two  armies.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  enormous  amount  of  effort  to 
make  it  impregnable  is  obvious.  Rows 
and  rows  of  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and 
sixth  line  trenches;  acres  of  barbed  wire; 
fields  sown  with  mines,  and  every  tree  and 


74    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

bush  a  mask  for  a  cannon  or  mitrailleuse 
show  that  nothing  is  being  neglected, while 
additional  railways  are  being  built  to  bring 
up  supplies  and  the  roads  (thank  God!) 
are  being  overhauled  and  repaired.  The 
winter  and  spring  have  put  them  in  a 
frightful  state  and  our  cars  certainly  re- 
flect it. 

May%1.  A  German  flyer  played  a  clever 
trick  on  being  chased  by  four  French 
planes  to-day.  He  pretended  to  be  driven 
to  earth,  stopped  his  engine,  and  prepared 
to  alight.  The  French  ceased  firing,  came 
planing  down  near  him,  and  stopped;  he 
then  quickly  started  his  motor  again, 
veered  off  to  the  right  over  some  woods, 
and  got  back  to  his  lines  before  the  French, 
who  had  actually  grounded,  could  get  up 
again. 

I  am  back  again  at  Cappy,  for  the  first 
time  since  I  broke  my  rear  axle  in  a  shell- 
hole.  End  and  Magoun  did  the  same  thing. 
We  have  to  sleep  in  the  cave  now !  —  very 
annoying.  It 's  damp  and  stuffy.  Loads  of 
more  guns  up  here.  The  French  are  using 
a  new  "£70,"  and  the  fields  are  full  of  am- 


ON  LES  AURA  75 

munition,  covered  with  branches  of  canvas 
painted  Hke  scenery.  We  went  up  to  one 
of  the  new  "postes  de  secours"  where  we 
are  under  mitrailleuse  fire.  We  have  to 
turn  the  car  around  by  hand  so  that  the 
Germans  won't  hear  the  noise  of  the  re- 
verse gear.  On  coming  back  we  found  the 
road  blocked  by  a  newly  fallen  tree  hit  by 
a  shell.  It  took  an  hour,  with  the  help  of 
the  "brancardier,"  to  jack  it  up  and  shove 
it  around. 

Certainly  I  got  a  thrill  on  the  second 
run  coming  back  from  Cerisy  by  moon- 
light about  2  A.M.  Just  before  crossing  the 
Somme,  I  noticed  low-lying  wisps  of  misty 
vapor.  Having  already  been  stopped 
twice  by  sentries  and  as  the  cannonading 
was  heavy,  it  suddenly  struck  me  that  an 
attack  might  be  going  on  and  that  this  was 
gas.  It  looked  pale  blue  in  the  moonlight. 
I  stopped  my  motor  and  got  my  gas  mask 
out,  but  as  there  seemed  to  be  no  general 
movement  of  troops,  I  decided  to  go  ahead. 
I  hurried  through,  and  was  greatly  relieved 
to  smell  the  good  old  fog  smell.  The  two 
sentries,  French  and  English,  on  the  Somme 


76    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

bridge  must  certainly  have  a  bad  time. 
Shelled  continually,  and  being  at  the  low- 
est point  in  the  valley,  they  are  more  apt 
to  get  the  gas  than  the  troops  quartered  on 
the  higher  ground. 

White  and  Campbell  finally  received 
the  decorations  to-day.  An  amusing  inci- 
dent occurred  when  the  General  took 
White  (who  had  been  told  to  stand  out  in 
front  of  the  line)  to  be  a  mere  onlooker  and 
ordered  him  back.  It  had  to  be  explained 
to  him  that  this  was  the  hero  who  was 
to  be  decorated !  He  apologized,  of  course, 
but  it  got  every  one  giggling  and  somewhat 
marred  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion. 

May  26.  Culbertson  came  back  from 
Cappy  with  a  long  tale  of  experiences  this 
morning.  He  had  not  been  to  the  Sucrerie 
of  Dompierre  Poste  before,  and  got  a  call 
at  2  A.M.  He  took  a  *'brancardier"  to 
show  him  the  way.  They  got  out  in  the 
open  road  on  the  top  of  the  hill  and 
could  n't  find  the  "poste";  so  the  *'bran- 
cardier"  went  on  to  look  for  it  and  Cul- 
bertson stopped  his  motor  and  waited.  He 
says  it  seemed  about  a  year  before  the  man 


ON  LES  AURA  77 

came  back.  Meantime  every  time  the  mi- 
trailleuse would  start  in,  old  Culby  would 
try  to  find  some  place  to  hide,  and  he  says 
there  was  n't  the  vestige  of  anything 
within  sight.  Finally  they  got  down  to  the 
"poste,"  and  he  tried  to  turn,  with  the  re- 
sult that  he  backed  off  the  road  into  a 
trench.  He  had  to  get  a  lot  of  soldiers  to 
lift  the  car  out.  They  pushed  it  out  amid 
cheers,  everybody  forgetting  the  Boches, 
and,  incidentally,  the"blesse."  Then,  they 
heard  a  yell  from  the  *'blesse"  whom  they 
had  nearly  run  over  with  the  car  as  he  lay 
in  the  road.  Culby  says  the  Germans 
seemed  so  close  that  he  felt  as  if  the  front 
wheels  were  in  the  German  trenches  and 
the  back  wheels  in  the  French.  Finally, 
coming  back,  he  says  he  was  so  glad  that 
he  started  to  beat  it  fast,  when  the  "bran- 
cardier'*  put  his  foot  on  the  electric  light- 
switch  by  mistake,  and  suddenly  the 
lights  flared  up,  and  a  moment  later  the 
Boches  started  shelling.  He  says  he 
thought  he  hit  every  shell-hole  back  to 
Cerisy,  and  once  he  ran  over  a  ball  of 
barbed  wire  left  to  be  stretched  at  the  side 


78    AT  THE  FRONT   IN  A  FLIVVER 

of  the  road,  but  he  did  n't  care  so  long  as 
he  got  there.  The  marvelous  part  of  the 
whole  thing  was  that  the  car  was  scarcely 
hit  at  all;  only  a  few  bolts  loosened. 

The  name  of  the  "  poste  "is  "  I'Arbre-en- 
Boule,"  because  there  is  a  large  stump  of  a 
tree  there  which  the  French  hollowed  out 
and  used  as  an  observation  point.  The  Ger- 
mans got  onto  it  and  shelled  it  down  and, 
having  the  exact  range,  kept  the  French 
from  using  it.  They  also  employed  it  as  a 
range-finder  for  other  things,  such  as  bat- 
teries. The  French,  then,  moved  it  one 
night  about  ten  yards  and  set  it  up  again. 
Ever  since,  the  Germans  have  been  shell- 
ing it  and  missing  not  only  the  tree,  but 
the  other  objectives. 

At  Harbonnieres  to-day  with  Imbrie, 
Francklyn,  and  Wood  worth.  There  is  a 
steady  drizzle,  and  nothing  to  do  for 
twenty -four  hours.  Imbrie  is  an  interest- 
ing bird .  He  has  traveled  all  through  Africa 
with  a  professor  who  went  there  to  study 
monkey  talk;  —  locked  himself  up  in  a 
cage  with  gorillas,  and  such!  and  claims 
to  have  discovered  twenty  words.  Imbrie 


ON  LES  AURA  79 

says  "it's  all  rot";  but  that  the  shooting 
was  fine  and  the  trip  most  interesting.  He 
says  that  after  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
the  monkeys  knew  more  than  the  profes- 
sor, he  left  him  and  got  some  splendid 
elephant  hunting. 

I  went  over  to  the  English  lines  this 
afternoon  and  saw  a  series  of  impromptu 
boxing-matches.  There  was  a  new  Ser- 
geant-Ma j  or  in  one  company  who  was  be- 
ing watched  to  see  how  he  would  turn  out, 
and  he  organized  the  matches,  starting  in 
himself  in  the  first  bout.  The  best  of  feel- 
ing prevailed,  and  when  the  men  threat- 
ened to  become  too  rough,  they  were  cau- 
tioned by  the  Lieutenant  who  kept  time. 
Many  French  soldiers  came  over  to  see 
the  bouts  and  both  armies  fraternized  in 
the  most  cheerful  manner.  They  daily  play 
soccer  football  also. 


CHAPTER  V 

PREPARING  FOR  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE 
SOMME 

La  vie  est  brfeve ; 
Un  peu  d'amour, 
Un  peu  de  r6ve, 
Et  puis  —  bonjour! 

La  vie  est  vaine ; 
Un  peu  d'espoir, 
Un  peu  de  haine, 
Et  puis  —  bonsoir! 

June  1.  Big  doings  to-day;  the  order 
came  at  10  a.m.  to  move  the  whole  encamp- 
ment from  Mericourt  toLamotte-Santerre, 
and  we  were  ready  by  2.30.  Then,  just  be- 
fore we  left,  we  were  told  to  go  to  Bayon- 
villers  instead;  and  here  we  are!  It  is  not 
such  a  bad  billet.  The  town  is  more  mod- 
ern and  in  better  repair  than  Mericourt. 
We  are  sleeping  in  our  cars  to-night,  but 
will  find  quarters  to-morrow,  which  does 
not  do  Imbrie  and  me  any  good,  as  we  go 
to  Cappy  for  twenty-four  hours  and  so 
get  "stung"  out  of  any  decent  pickings  for 
sleeping  accommodations.    The  Section 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  81 

remains  with  the  Third  Division.  The 
Twentieth  Corps,  which  withstood  the 
first  shock  at  Verdun  and  thereby  earned 
its  place  in  the  Hall  of  Immortals,  is  to 
straddle  the  Somme,  having  had  a  month 
"en  repos."  When  the  "Regiment  de 
Fer"  came  in  with  its  flags  —  or  what 
was  left  of  them  —  flying,  everybody  sa- 
luted. They  are  said  to  have  saved  the  day 
in  the  first  German  rush,  the  critical  period 
at  Verdun.  The  Sixth  (ours)  won  its  spurs 
in  the  Champagne,  and  is  next  to  the 
Twentieth,  and  we  continue  to  handle  the 
front  line  as  before,  but  from  a  different 
base. 

The  English  have  moved  a  kilometer 
to  the  west,  so  that  the  conflicting  orders 
bound  to  occur  at  the  Somme  are  elimi- 
nated. A  lot  of  new  rail  lines  have  been  put 
through  in  the  last  few  days,  and  the  sup- 
ply of  ammunition  in  the  fields  is  some- 
thing beyond  belief.  Word  has  been  given 
that  everything  in  the  way  of  preparation 
must  be  finished  by  the  20th.  The  French 
had  arranged  to  be  ready  by  the  15th,  but 
the  English  asked  for  five  more  days.  The 


82    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

battle  of  the  Somme  should  be  some  bat- 
tle. The  fields  are  full  of  poppies,  yellow 
daisies,  and  cornflowers,  and  the  country 
is  beautiful.  The  poppies  remind  one  of 
Omar's 

"  I  sometimes  think  that  never  blows  so  red 
The  rose  as  where  some  buried  Csesar  bled." 

At  Verdun,  so  far,  they  say,  the  German 
losses  amount  to  450,000  and  the  French 
to  200,000  —  even  the  poppies  grow  no 
thicker ! 

Big  mortar  batteries  are  arriving  along 
the  Front.  I  saw  several  here,  at  Cappy, 
this  afternoon,  hidden  near  the  cemetery. 
Even  when  a  man  gets  killed  he  is  not  per- 
mitted to  rest  in  peace  nowadays.  The 
Germans  are  bound  to  blow  hell  out  of  the 
cemetery,  trying  to  reach  these  new  mor- 
tars. 

June  2.  Bayonvillers  is  not  a  bad  town, 
but  our  quarters  are  awful;  all  of  us  bunk 
together  in  a  big  loft,  with  the  cars  and 
the  eating-place  about  two  squares  away. 
The  reason  for  the  crowding  is  the  piling- 
up  of  new  troops  in  all  these  districts.    I 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  83 

had  fun  with  Francklyn  this  morning.  It 
appears  that  he  used  Imbrie's  "paillasse" 
last  night,  and  when  Imbrie  and  I  returned 
from  Cappy  it  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 
Francklyn  was  still  asleep,  so  we  carried 
him  bunk  and  all,  out  into  the  main  street 
and  placed  him  on  the  sidewalk.  A  large 
crowd  immediately  gathered,  thinking  he 
was  a  "blesse,"  as  he  had  nothing  on  but  a 
blanket.  He  woke  up  just  as  a  Division 
Staff  was  passing,  and  he  certainly  did 
make  a  quick  jump  for  the  yard  with  the 
blanket  flapping  like  the  tail  of  a  kite  be- 
hind his  long,  bare  legs,  as  he  beat  it. 

June  3.  An  amusing  afternoon.  Being 
second  "  Bureau,"  I  had  nothing  to  do,  and 
it  so  happened  that  a  bunch  of  kids  from 
Harbonnieres  came  down  to  be  confirmed; 
the  girls  in  their  little  white  dresses  and 
the  boys  in  their  best  Sunday-go-to-meet- 
ing clothes.  Bowman,  who  was  just  back 
from  Paris,  brought  out  the  Victrola  with  a 
lot  of  the  latest  records  (I  don't  know  what 
we  'd  do  without  that  Christmas-gift  Vic- 
trola from  Miss  Caroline  Sinkler) ,  and  we 
had  a  regular  raft  of  children  all  over  us  all 


84    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

afternoon,  as  the  school  let  out  at  the  same 
time.  One  girl,  a  little  older,  who  serves 
the  store  at  Harbonnieres  and  who  had 
come  down  with  the  diminutive  brides  in 
all  their  white  gear,  appeared  to  have  fallen 
desperately  in  love  with  Duffy  Lewis.  ^  She 
had  his  picture  and  looked  us  all  over,  but 
could  n't  find  Duffy.  Then  she  spotted 
Paul's  back  (Paul  being  about  the  same 
size  as  Lewis)  and  rushed  over  to  him, 
only  to  return  disappointed.  *'  Ce  n'est  pas 
lui ! "  Then  Woody,  twisting  his  mustache, 
came  over  to  ease  her  mind,  telling  her 
Lewis  would  be  here,  but  unfortunately  he 
was  "soused,"  and  sleeping  it  off!  (Lewis 
never  touched  a  drop  in  his  life.)  We  got 
a  lot  of  pictures  of  the  priest  and  others 
and  shortly  afterward  Duffy  turned  up, 
and  what  he  did  n't  get  in  the  way  of  chaf- 
fing, —  some  fun ! 

After  dinner  I  got  a  call  to  go  in  a  hurry 
for  a  "blesse"  at  the  "Ravin"  de  Mor- 
court,  nobody  knew  what  "ravin"  was 
meant,  so  I  spent  from  8  p.m.  until  2  a.m. 
going  up  and  down  ravines  all  over  the 

^  Philip  C.  Lewis,  Harvard;  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  85 

map.  One  time  I  struck  a  road  which 
appeared  to  be  taking  me  slap  into  the 
German  hnes,  which  was  anything  but 
pleasant.  I  returned  twice  to  get  further 
instructions,  but  no  one  knew  anything, 
so  finally  I  was  told  to  turn  in.  Roche,  Ed- 
wards, Imbrie,  and  Campbell  all  had  the 
same  experience  that  night.  The  trouble 
was  that  all  the  Divisions  were  being 
shifted  and  nobody  knew  where  any  of 
the  "postes"  were.  Campbell  did  n't  get 
back  till  nearly  breakfast  time.  He  had 
been  called  to  Chuignes  and  Chuignelles  to 
get  three  "blesses"  and  had  found  no  one. 
I  suppose  that  things  will  be  straightened 
out  in  a  day  or  two.  I  am  off  on  the  new 
Lamotte  twenty-four  hours'  service  to-day 
with  Imbrie. 

June  6.  Culbertson,  Imbrie,  and  I  went 
over  to  Mericourt  to  our  old  camping- 
ground  and  brought  over  the  body  of  No. 
19  which  we  had  left  there.  All  the  natives 
were  delighted  to  see  us  and  expressed  sor- 
row that  we  were  not  to  return.  Espe- 
cially cordial  were  the  two  old  ladies.  We 
then  crossed  the  canal  and  paid  a  visit  to 


86    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

an  English  Captain  (Duffy),  who  gave  us 
tea  and  toast  served  on  a  table  by  an  or- 
derly, with  napkins  and  real  china!  Those 
English  certainly  go  to  war  in  great  style ! 
He  even  had  his  two-room  portable  cabin 
decorated  with  pictures.  I  returned  to  find 
Vic  White  and  Campbell  in  serious  dis- 
cussion. It  appears  WTiite's  mother  con- 
sulted some  sort  of  palmist  or  medium,  who 
told  her  her  son  would  be  in  great  danger 
in  the  latter  part  of  June,  which  was  easy 
enough  to  guess,  as  the  big  offensive  is 
likely  to  start  then.  She  had  written  to 
him  to  come  home.  Vic  does  n't  want  to 
worry  her,  so  Campbell  and  I  suggested 
his  merely  giving  her  the  idea  that  he  was 
not  right  at  the  Front,  which  after  all  is 
more  or  less  true,  as  we  only  run  up  to  the 
lines  on  certain  routes,  and  are  living  about 
two  miles  back.  Campbell  then  said  he 
lately  had  been  growing  superstitious  and 
that  he  had  a  feeling  he  was  going  to  be 
killed.  Odd  for  a  man  who  has  been  in  the 
war  since  the  beginning !  He  argued  it  all 
out  on  the  doctrine  of  chances;  he  says 
that  it's  just  for  the  very  reason  that  he 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  87 

has  been  in  the  field  longer  than  any  of  us 
that  he  is  therefore  more  likely  to  get  it 
in  the  neck  than  the  newer  men.  He  says 
if  he  pulls  through  the  big  offensive  of  this 
summer,  he  is  going  home,  and  White  says 
he  will  go  with  him.  Pete  (who  has  no 
feelings  of  any  kind)  says  he  dreamed 
several  times  lately  that  some  of  the  Sec- 
tion are  going  to  be  killed  or  wounded.  Al- 
together the  bunch  are  certainly  pessimis- 
tic —  but  I  fancy  the  cold,  wet  weather 
and  the  lack  of  work  just  now  have  most 
to  do  with  it. 

June  8.  Big  train  of  great "  220  "  mortars 
came  by  on  their  way  to  Chuignes  this 
morning,  eight  of  them  drawn  by  huge 
Renault  &  Jeffery  (American)  trucks, 
whose  wheels  in  front,  as  well  as  rear, 
were  tractors  —  the  couplings  of  these  to 
the  carriages  carrying  the  trails  and  "ca- 
mion "  were  the  same  as  those  on  railways, 
and  the  carriages  were  made  in  Troy,  Ohio. 
They  shoot  a  shell  five  feet  high  weighing 
three  hundred  kilos,  and  carry  about 
ten  kilometers.  They  are  meant  only  to 
reduce  fortifications. 


88    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

I  hear  that  the  new  Section  (No.  8), 
sent  out  under  Mason  as  chief,  ran  right 
into  a  gas  attack  at  the  very  first  crack. 
They  are  stationed  in  Champagne,  and 
are  said  to  have  done  remarkably  well, 
especially  as  they  were  all  new  men. 

The  big-gun  train  is  camping  here  tem- 
porarily until  the  emplacements  are 
finished.  Everywhere  house  barracks  and 
log  protections  are  being  erected  and  the 
country  is  simply  alive  with  working  men. 
One  hundred  "camions"  turned  up  here 
to-day,  of  the  largest  size.  They  are  just  the 
ordinary  service  wagons  for  the  *'  8-270's  " ! 
Another  train  of  "220's"  passed  later. 
The  gunners  had  amused  themselves  by 
naming  them  "Le  Bourdon,"  "Le  Gueu- 
leur,"  and  so  on.  All  their  guns  and  their 
accessories  are  in  the  multi-colored  tones 
of  paint,  green,  ochre,  black,  and  brown, 
and  look  like  maps.  One  "camion"  drags 
the  base  and  turntable,  another  the  gun 
itself;  the  rest,  gasoline  and  ammunition. 

June  10.  Dr.  Maine  and  Peter  Kemp 
turned  up  from  Paris  with  two  new  cars. 
I  went  back  to  Cappy  to-day.  The  roads 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  89 

are  jammed,  and  we  have  to  run  for  miles 
on  the  low  gear  behind  the  heavy  artillery 
and  ammunition  trains.    I  had  to  tighten 
the  low  gear  band  twice  yesterday  and  it 
is  practically  worn  out.  I  will  put  in  a  new 
one  in  a  day  or  two.   Life  in  the  barracks 
is  amusing.  Some  of  the  men  insist  on  talk- 
ing half  the  night,  while  others  try  to  sleep, 
and  still  others  keep  their  lamps  lit  late  try- 
ing to  read  and  write.  The  chief  annoyance 
in  fact  is  the  utter  lack  of  privacy.  Roche 
and  I  came  to  a  compromise  with  Cunning- 
ham and  Campbell  on  the  light  question. 
They  want  all  lights  out  at  ten  o'clock, 
so  we  said  if  they  would  stop  talking  at 
nine,  we  would  "douse  the  glim  "at  eleven. 
Francklyn  and  Avard  have  an  amusing 
arrangement  to  wake  each  other  up  in  the 
morning.  If  one  cannot  arouse  the  other  by 
quarter  to  seven,  he  has  the  privilege  of 
tumbling  him  out  of  bed!    The  result  is 
each  watches  the  other  like  a  cat  when  the 
alarm  goes  off  and  there  is  generally  a  reg- 
ular wrestling-bout.    Yesterday  morning 
Gyles  broke  Peter's  bed,  so  Pete  said  he  'd 
tumble  Gyles  out  at  2  a.m.,  the  next  night. 


90    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Gyles  in  self-protection  built  a  barricade 
of  bags  and  saw-horses  around  himself  and 
slept  on  the  floor  on  a  stretcher.  The 
great  connecting  link  is  "Vic,"  the  fox 
terrier  pup.  The  dog  is  sick  just  now,  and 
they  have  been  taking  him  to  a  veterinary 
and  are  nursing  him  like  a  baby.  It's 
Pete's  dog,  but  to  devil  him  we  all  call  it 
Francklyn's,  which  jars  Pete  extremely. 
Pete,  who  is  considerably  older  than  Gyles 
and  has  had  a  very  varied  career,  roughing 
it  all  over  the  world,  at  first  used  to  beat 
up  Gyles  pretty  regularly  and  browbeat 
and  bully  him;  but  lately  Gyles  has  dis- 
covered that  he  can  lick  Pete  wrestling, 
so  he  has  taken  to  issuing  official  com- 
muniques every  morning  as  to  the  state 
of  their  bed  war!  Latimer  took  them  both 
in  at  checkers  the  other  day  and  beat  them 
easily,  as  they  soon  got  squabbling  over 
the  proper  moves  to  make.  It  certainly  is 
better  than  a  circus.  Little  Wood  worth  is 
the  life  of  the  party  with  his  continual  good 
humor,  his  songs  and  dances,  and  general 
liveliness,  and  we  will  be  sorry  to  see  him 
go  in  July  when  he  returns  to  America. 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  91 

The  place  will  be  a  gloom  without  him, 
as  no  one  else  in  the  squad  is  quite  such  a 
natural  comedian/   Pete  is  also  going. 

June  12.  I  have  just  finished  lunch  with 
a  party  of  unusually  jovial  Frenchmen. 
One  used  to  be  first  violin  at  the  Carlton 
in  London,  and  having  borrowed  the  piano 
from  Mile.  Granger,  he  played  accompani- 

1  Benjamin  R.  Woodworth,  after  Herbert  P.  Towns- 
end's  departure  early  in  1917,  became  Chief  of  Section 
No.  1.  On  June  16,  1917,  he  accepted  the  invitation  of 
Chatkhoff,  an  American  aviator,  to  take  a  spin  near  the 
town  of  S.  The  plane  side-slipped,  and  he  was  killed 
instantly,  crushed  beyond  recognition.  To  W.  Yorke 
Stevenson  with  whom  he  had  grown  to  be  on  terms  of 
intimate  friendship,  fell  the  sad  duty  of  bringing  his  re- 
mains back  to  the  Section's  headquarters  —  a  ghastly 
run  of  100  miles.  In  a  letter  the  author  described  the 
funeral  as  follows :  — 

"Stockwell,  Ned  Townsend,  Hibbard,and  I  were  the 
pall-bearers.  Had  wonderful  flowers  as  the  boys  spent  all 
morning  picking  big  bunches  of  red  poppies,  white  roses, 
carnations  and  apple  blossoms,  and  blue  cornflowers. 
The  coffin  was  draped  with  French  and  American  flags, 
and  the  Croix  de  Guerre  was  pinned  on  it. 
.  "  Shells  were  falling  nearby  as  we  lowered  the  coffin. 
It  was  just  as  he  would  have  wished,  and  the  American 
aviators  were  flying  over  his  grave." 

Mr.  Woodworth  was  most  popular  and  much  beloved 
by  many.  He  was  gifted  with  a  sunny  disposition 
and  much  ready  wit.  The  Diary  sliows  the  regard  in 
which  the  author  held  him.  The  latter  succeeded  him 
as  Chief  of  Section  No.  1. 


92    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

ments  to  a  couple  of  others  who  sang  war 
songs,  etc.  They  were  all  much  impressed 
with  Peter  Kemp's  appearance.  He  is  six 
feet  five,  as  tall  as  Walter  W^heeler,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  heavier.  We  explained  to 
them  that  that  was  the  reason  that  Amer- 
ica does  n't  go  to  war  —  the  average  men 
are  all  about  as  big  as  Peter  and  it  takes 
too  long  to  dig  trenches  to  fit  'em ! 

In  addition  to  the  customary  bombard- 
ment we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  violent 
thunder  and  hail  storm;  the  crashes  of 
thunder  and  lightning  mingling  with  the 
roar  of  the  guns  certainly  is  creating  a  real 
pandemonium.  This  makes  one  week  so 
far  of  solid  rain  and  the  roads  are  almost 
impassable  from  mud  and  traflSc  com- 
bined. Everywhere  are  bogged  autos  and 
dead  horses.  The  soldiers  skin  the  latter 
for  rugs  and  coats.  *' Rosalie"  is  the  af- 
fectionate term  the  "poilus"  apply  to  the 
new,  long,  four-cornered  bayonet  which 
makes  a  wound  almost  impossible  to  heal, 
as  it  cuts  like  a  cross.  "Rosalie"  is  also 
the  name  of  the  new  paper  method  of 
smoking  a  pipe;  a  round -cut  piece  about 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  93 

the  size  of  a  tail  light  lens  with  a  small  hole 
in  the  center.  The  advantage  is  a  cool  and 
easy  smoke  without  effort  of  drawing  and 
good  in  a  wind. 

The  roads  are  so  blocked  that  the  food 
is  slow  to  reach  the  Front  just  now.  To- 
day, for  instance,  we  were  on  half-rations 
here  at  Cappy.  As  we  sat  at  our  coffee, 
however,  the  "ravitaillement  camions" 
turned  up  and  there  was  great  rejoicing. 
I  saw  "La  Boiteuse  "  later  to-day.  She 's  a 
great  old  girl;  still  as  cheerful  as  ever  and 
glad  to  have  her  piano  in  capable  hands. 
She  gave  me  some  postcards  of  Cappy  and 
a  luck  piece.  She  sent  her  love  to  Nelson. 

June  13.  I  got  a  call  to  Eclusier  village 
at  2.30  A.M.  The  road  along  the  canal 
was  six  inches  deep  in  water  and  could 
hardly  be  told  from  the  canal  itself,  except 
for  the  yellow  color.  The  result  was  that 
it  was  quite  daylight  when  I  got  there,  and 
the  Boches  could  see  us  loading  the  car 
(three  "  couches  ")  plainly,  but  they  did  n't 
fire.  In  fact  they  have  been  very  quiet  of 
late.  The  church  at  Eclusier  is  but  an 
empty  shell  with  great  holes  down  through 


94    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

the  sides  and  no  roof  to  speak  of  —  birds 
flit  through  the  broken  windows  and  the 
rain  drops  dismally  on  the  floor.  Most  of 
the  images  are  smashed,  but  the  big  stone 
font  is  still  intact.  The  old  graveyard  be- 
side it  is  just  a  tangled  mass  of  stones  and 
weeds,  while  the  new  soldiers'  graveyard 
was  placed  in  two  huge  shell  holes  the 
sides  of  which  have  been  graded  like  steps, 
and  neat  little  crosses  bear  the  records  of 
the  dead.  Some  fifty  or  more  found  places 
in  the  two  holes,  and  yet  there  was  re- 
spectable space  between  each  grave  and 
around  the  edges.  Back  to  Villers-Bre- 
tonneux  with  the  wounded  and  back  at 
Cappy  by  8  a.m.;  the  slowness  due  to 
weather  and  congested  roads. 

Shoals  of  Senegalese  are  passing  toward 
the  Front,  and  it  certainly  looks  as  if  the 
offensive  was  coming  soon.  The  Russian 
victory  in  Galicia  is  said  to  be  merely  a 
diversion  to  help  Italy  just  now  and  the 
real  offensive  has  not  even  begun. 

I  got  stopped  by  what  looked  like  the 
whole  General  Staff  on  the  road  to-day. 
They  all  had  so  many  stripes  it  looked  like 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  95 

a  flock  of  zebras.  A  trooper  had  fallen  off 
his  horse  and  hit  his  head  and  they  or- 
dered me  to  carry  the  unconscious  man  to 
Villers-Bretonneux.  The  car  was  already 
full,  but  I  piled  him  in  and  took  him  along 
to  save  argument.  Of  course  I  had  a 
hideous  time  at  the  hospital  at  Villers, 
not  having  a  ticket  for  him.  Nobody  could 
take  him  in  for  an  hour  or  so  —  the  usual 
red-tape. 

The  "brancardiers"  tell  me  they  have 
great  difficulty  with  the  wounded  negroes, 
as  they  cannot  explain  how  they  feel;  also 
the  climate  is  very  hard  on  them. 

The  French  ** camion"  drivers  tell  me 
that  their  well-known  makes,  such  as  Pan- 
hard,  Fiat,  Berliet,  Renault,  etc.,  are  un- 
able to  put  in  the  same  high-grade  ma- 
terial in  their  car^  as  before  the  war,  and 
that  the  American  cars  are  regarded  as 
quite  as  good  if  not  better  —  especially 
the  Pierce-Arrow,  which  is  making  quite 
a  name  for  itself  both  here  and  in  Russia. 
Five  hundred  of  them  passed  here  in  long 
trains  yesterday. 

I  hear  we  are  going  to  be  shifted  again; 


m    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

headquarters  to  be  at  Proyart  and  evacu- 
ate to  the  new  hospital  at  Marcel  Cave. 
This  will  be  just  before  the  big  attack.  At 
Marcel  Cave  the  French  have  erected  an 
enormous  hospital  on  the  railway.  To 
illustrate  what  is  expected,  they  have 
purchased  from  the  town  an  additional 
site  for  a  graveyard  to  accommodate  five 
thousand  dead,  expected  to  be  the  casual- 
ties from  this  hospital  alone  —  not  from 
the  trenches,  but  those  who  cannot  sur- 
vive treatment.  This  gives  more  of  an  ink- 
ling as  to  the  preparation  in  our  Sector 
than  anything  else  I  have  seen.  And  our 
Sector  only  covers  some  three  or  four 
miles  of  the  Front. 

June  14.  I  had  an  interesting  talk  with 
a  Lieutenant  to-day  as  we  watched  a  regi- 
ment of  Zouaves  go  up  to  the  Front.  He 
said  that  now  that  they  were  here  together 
with  the  Colonials,  the  Senegalese,  the 
Chasseurs  d'Afrique,  and  the  Twentieth 
Corps,  the  advance  would  not  be  long  in 
coming.  He  says  the  Senegalese  are  aw- 
fully hard  to  handle.  They  won't  stand 
shell  fire,  but  don't  mind  machine  guns,  so 


PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE  97 

they  put  Frenchmen  on  either  side  of  them, 
fifteen  hundred  Senegalese  in  each  Divi- 
sion. They  have  strings  of  Boche  ears 
which  they  keep  as  trophies.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  "Germs"  always  kill  the  black 
wounded  and  prisoners,  so  it 's  about  fifty- 
fifty.  This  same  officer  says  the  big  attack 
now  depends  entirely  on  the  English.  If 
they  can  only  manage  Champagne  and 
Neuve  Chapelle,  stalemates  will  not  be 
repeated. 

June  17.  Red-Letter  Day!  The  first 
hot  bath  in  a  tub  since  I've  been  at  the 
Front!  "Huts"  Townsend,  our  Section 
Chief,  took  "Gimp"  Cunningham  and  me 
in  to  Amiens.  We  simply  wallowed  in 
baths  which  only  cost  a  franc.  We  did  a 
little  shopping  and  brought  the  boys  back 
some  cherry  tarts  for  supper,  for  which  we 
received  loud  cheers.  Good  old  Pete  Avard 
left  to-day  and  took  back  an  old  car 
which,  as  usual,  was  stripped  to  the  bone 
before  it  was  allowed  to  go.  The  boys  al- 
ways attack  a  car  going  down,  like  a  bunch 
of  ghouls.  A  new  man  turned  up  with 
Magoun,  Little,  by  name,  from  Andover, 


98    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

and  seems  a  decent  sort.  The  fellows  that 
sleep  in  the  tent  are  not  having  such  a 
pleasant  time  of  it  now.  A  whole  regiment 
of  artillery  ("270's")  has  camped  all 
around  them,  and  the  noise  of  men  and 
horses  keeps  them  awake  all  night  long, 
and  naturally  they  are  afraid  of  thefts, 
particularly  from  the  Senegalese;  although 
the  loft  in  which  the  rest  of  us  sleep  is 
dark  and  dirty,  it  is,  at  least,  fairly  safe 
from  that  sort  of  thing.  The  blacks  love 
anything  bright  and  shiny,  like  radiator 
caps  or  nickle-plated  tools.  With  the  ad- 
vance of  the  hour  we  all  now  have  to  get 
up  at  5.30  instead  of  6.30  and  already  sev- 
eral have  been  caught  on  the  "no  break- 
fast after  6.30"  order.  As  we  go  to  bed 
an  hour  earlier  we  '11  work  into  it  all  right 
soon,  I  suppose. 


CHAPTER  VI 

"iLS   NE   PASSERONT   PAS" 

If  this  little  world  to-night 
Suddenly  should  fall  through  space 
In  a  hissing,  headlong  flight, 
Shrivelling  from  off  its  face 
In  an  instant  every  trace 
Of  all  the  little  crawling  things;  — 
Ants,  philosophers,  and  lice. 
Cattle,  cockroaches,  and  kings. 
Beggars,  millionaires,  and  mice. 
Men  and  maggots  all  as  one 
As  it  falls  into  the  Sun,  — 
Who  shall  say  that  at  the  same 
Instant  from  a  planet  far 
A  child  may  watch  us  and  exclaim, 
"See  the  pretty  shooting  star!" 

Oliver  Herford 

June  18.  We  saw  a  French  aeroplane 
fall  yesterday  afternoon  right  near  the 
camp  at  Villers-Bretonneux.  The  aviator 
trying  to  volplane  too  near  the  ground,  the 
thing  slipped  sideways,  and  smashed  into 
a  field.  My  car  was  full,  so  I  was  of  no 
use,  but  Woodworth  happened  to  be  pass- 
ing at  the  same  time  and  ran  out  with  a 
stretcher.  For  some  time  they  could  not 
get  at  the  men  on  account  of  the  flames 


100    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

and  were  forced  to  watch  them  burn  to 
death.  They  say  their  cries  were  awful. 
One  man  managed  to  reach  in  and  get 
hold  of  one  of  the  aviator's  arms  to  drag 
him  out,  but  all  the  flesh  came  away  in 
his  hand.  Woody  carried  one  to  the  hos- 
pital, but  he  was  dead  when  he  got  there. 
Of  the  other  there  was  nothing  left  worth 
carrying.  .  .  .  "C'est  la  guerre!" 

June  20.  Things  are  moving  rapidly 
now.  All  "permissions"  have  been  can- 
celed which  kills  any  expectation  of  Paris 
on  the  4th  of  July.  Lewis  got  a  splendid 
citation  for  the  Croix,  at  Fontaine-Cappy, 
for  bravery  under  fire.  He  was  ordered  to 
leave  by  the  Medecin  Chef,  and  refused  to 
do  so,  because  he  had  not  completed  his 
rounds.  The  old  man  was  delighted  with 
him  and  cited  him  the  next  day.  We  move 
to  a  camp  in  a  field  between  two  batteries 
at  Chuignes  and  will  evacuate  to  the  big 
new  barracks  hospital  at  Marcel  Cave. 
The  grand  attack  is  due  to  start  in  about 
a  week  and  some  of  the  fellows  are  talking 
of  making  their  wills.  I  should  worry!  !  ! 
A  new  gun  has  appeared,  a  "  120  "  built  on 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  101 

"  75  "  principles,  light  carriage,  oil  recoil, 
and  very  mobile  but  shorter  in  the  barrel, 
thereby  bringing  down  the  weight,  I  sup- 
pose. It  must  be  a  terror,  as  it  is  almost 
double  the  famous  "soixante-quinze."  We 
have  been  unable  to  buy  a  map  of  the  coun- 
try between  the  Foies-Dompierre-Faucau- 
court  line  and  Peronne  anywhere,  even  in 
Amiens,  so  it  looks  as  if  that  was  to  be 
the  direction  of  the  big  push. 

End  and  I  had  a  long  walk  to-day.  He 
is  an  interesting  chap.  He  was  in  Ser- 
bia with  the  Columbia  Ambulance.  We 
visited  the  two  big  aviation  camps  and 
watched  them  sighting  one  of  Barclay 
Warburton's  "Lewis"  air-cooled  mitrail- 
leuses. They  have  a  sight  much  like  the 
finder  on  a  camera;  it  must  be  easy  to  aim 
with.  We  saw  Farman  and  Condron  planes, 
the  latter  with  double  "gnome"  type- 
motors  in  front,  the  former  with  V-type 
twelve  cylinder  Renault  motor  aft.  We  did 
n't  see  any  of  the  famous  Nieuports,  as 
they  won't  come  from  Verdun  until  the  last 
moment,  nor  did  we  see  the  new  self-start- 
ing Voisin  planes.  The  orders  are  to ' '  shed  " 


102    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

everything  but  the  barest  necessities.  We 
also  saw  the  funeral  of  two  aviators.  It 
was  quite  impressive,  with  several  Gen- 
erals walking  behind  the  coffins,  while 
one  plane  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  the 
heavens  above  the  grave. 

June  21.  I  am  up  at  Cappy  again,  and 
got  a  call  right  off  to  Eclusier  and  mighty 
near  fell  into  the  canal,  as  some  idiot  had 
left  a  pile  of  wood  for  fuel  in  the  road  and 
in  trying  to  go  over  it  the  car  skidded  one 
wheel  over  the  bank.  I  just  caught  it  with 
the  brakes  in  time. 

Imbrie,  as  the  only  lawyer  in  the  Squad, 
offers  to  make  wills  cheap  for  cash.  One 
gets  thinking  about  things  like  that  in  the 
face  of  what's  coming. 

June  %%.  Most  depressing  news.  We 
are  to  go  to  Verdun.  We  are  shifted  from 
the  Colonials  because  they  are  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  the  attack,  and  the  cars  which  are 
necessary  for  the  tremendous  evacuation 
work  must  be  the  largest  possible,  while 
ours  will  be  more  useful  on  the  bad  roads 
around  Verdun.  Our  evacuation  center  is 
Bar-le-Duc  where  Section  No.  2  and  the 


ILS   NE   PASSERONT  PAS  103 

new  No.  8  are  stationed.  I  am  sorry  to 
have  seen  only  the  beginning  of  what  must 
prove  the  biggest  offensive  of  the  war.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  will  be  glad  to  be  able  to 
say  I  have  been  at  Verdun,  and  the  250- 
mile  trip  across  the  country  will  prove 
most  interesting.  It  means  that  we  will 
travel  from  one  end  of  the  French  battle 
line  to  the  other, —  truly  a  wonderful 
opportunity. 

June  23.  Such  a  splendid  trip!  We 
came  down  through  Senlis,  the  town  where 
the  Boches  did  their  worst.  They  burned 
every  tenth  house,  and  shot  the  citizens, 
including  the  Mayor.  Then  we  came  along 
the  valley  of  the  Marne,  and  saw  the  whole 
of  the  great  battlefield.  A  perfect  day,  and 
the  Lieutenant  ran  slowly  so  that  the 
"convoi"  should  get  a  chance  to  take  in 
the  views.  At  that,  we  are  to-night  at 
Chalons  —  some  ride !  Every  bone  in  my 
body  aches  and  it's  hard  even  to  keep 
awake  to  write  this.  Woody  got  an  awful 
spill.  He  nearly  went  to  sleep,  a  very 
common  thing  after  one  has  been  driving 
for  a  great  many  hours  —  sort  of  hypno- 


104    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

tism ;  his  car  turned  turtle,  but  threw  him 
clear.  Paul  also  went  to  sleep,  but  saved 
himself.  Imbrie  nearly  got  ditched,  too, 
doing  the  same  thing.  I  find  the  only 
thing  to  do  is  to  try  to  compose  a  letter  or 
a  verse  or  remember  songs  one  half  knows. 
It  keeps  one's  mind  out  of  that  hypnotic 
rhythm.  Here  I  am  on  a  wonderful  soft 
down  bed  with  sheets!  The  Russians  are 
here  also.  The  lady  of  the  house  where  I 
am  quartered  says  that  last  night  there  was 
a  Boche  aeroplane  raid,  but  it  did  no  dam- 
age, except  it  made  her  baby  cry  with  the 
noise.  She  says  to-night  it  will  be  so  sleepy 
it  won't  disturb  me !  !  !  —  After  three 
months  of  the  guns!  —  an  amusing  idea! 
The  French  kids  are  good  little  fellows. 
One  insisted  I  should  have  a  rose  in  my 
button-hole  to-day.  Everywhere  they  give 
one  flowers  or  candy.  Another  led  me  all 
around  the  village  of  Pont-St.-Maxice  by 
the  hand,  and  all  along  the  roads  they  al- 
ways, girls  and  boys,  click  their  heels  to- 
gether and  give  the  military  salute  when 
we  pass. 

June  24.  My  hostess  charged  *'what- 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  105 

ever  I  chose  to  pay"  for  the  room.  I  asked 
if  two  francs  would  suffice,  and  she  agreed. 
In  the  morning  she  handed  me  a  bottle 
wrapped  up  and  told  me  to  say  nothing 
about  it.  She  would  accept  nothing  for  it 
and  when  I  opened  it  later  I  found  it  was 
a  pint  of  champagne!  Certainly  nice  of 
her.  Board  and  lodging  and  champagne 
for  two  francs! 

We  passed  many  smashed-up  villages 
to-day,  including  Sermaize  and  the  fa- 
mous Vitry-le-Frangois,  the  turning-point 
of  the  battle  of  the  Marne.  We  stopped 
at  Trois-Fontaines  and  saw  the  ruins  of 
a  twelfth-century  abbey,  —  wonderfully 
beautiful,  —  and  the  chateau  of  Trois- 
Fontaines  belonging  to  the  Count  of 
Fontenoy.  The  Boches  did  not  injure  it 
for  some  strange  reason.  The  abbey  was 
ruined  by  the  French  Revolutionists. 

As  we  neared  Bar-le-Duc  we  passed  the 
Tenth  Cavalry,  every  man  leading  an 
extra  horse.  All  the  horses  are  little,  quick- 
acting  animals  of  the  polo  pony  type.  They 
looked  very  efficient.  We  also  passed  the 
Seventy-ninth  "de  ligne"  returning  from 


106    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

the  Front.  The  men  were  haggard  and 
done,  but  a  fine-looking  lot.  Ten  days 
should  put  them  on  their  toes  again.  After 
one  of  our  caravans  goes  through  a  sec- 
tion of  country,  the  "pays"  breaks  out  in 
spots  with  Ford  sores  for  days.  We  have 
only  "shed"  five  altogether  and  two  are 
due  to  rejoin  to-night.  Woody  broke  his 
front  and  Edwards  his  back  axle.  Bow- 
man burned  out  a  bearing.  Little  broke  a 
front  wheel,  and  Lathrop  had  carburetor 
trouble.  There  were,  of  course,  the  usual 
lot  of  blow-outs.  I  had  two,  but  was  able 
to  rejoin  each  time  without  losing  my 
position  in  the  line  for  more  than  a  few 
minutes.  Each  man  carries  a  part  of  the 
general  extras  on  a  hike.  I  was  lucky  in 
drawing  the  tire  supply,  which  saved  me 
many  minutes,  as  I  used  the  tires  lying 
loose  in  the  car  rather  than  undo  my  care- 
fully packed-away  spares. 

June  25.  We  arrived  at  Bar-le-Duc  yes- 
terday afternoon  at  5  o'clock,  and  had  our 
tents  up  and  kitchen  working  by  6  p.m., 
to  the  astonishment  of  a  neighboring  "ca- 
mion" section.  We  turned  in  at  9  o'clock. 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  107 

At  11  P.M.  a  call  came  to  go  at  once  to  Ver- 
dun, as  there  had  been  a  big  gas  attack. 
We  chucked  everything  out  of  our  cars, 
got  masks  and  "tin  derby s,"  and  beat  it. 
We  made  the  outskirts  of  Verdun  (fifty  kil- 
ometers) by  1  A.M.  over  fearful  roads  and 
not  a  car  broke  down,  though  there  were 
several  blow-outs.  We  ran  into  the  Norton 
Section  and  our  No.  2.  They  were  very 
much  surprised  —  as  they  knew  we  had 
only  arrived  that  evening  —  to  find  us 
right  on  the  job.  As  we  loaded  the  cough- 
ing men  into  the  cars,  the  guns  were  going 
like  mad  and  a  terrific  explosion  occurred 
—  either  a  mine  or  a  powder  depot.  The 
whole  sky  was  bright,  as  when  Du  Font's 
powder  mills  blew  up  at  Wilmington  last 
winter  and  we  saw  it  in  Philadelphia,  — 
except  this  time  it  was  quite  close. 

Each  car  took  five  men  and  we  landed 
them  back  at  Bar-le-Duc  as  the  day  was 
breaking.  Little  burned  out  a  bearing, 
but  otherwise  we  made  the  return  trip 
without  accidents,  at  a  very  fast  clip.  In 
fact,  too  fast  for  the  good  of  the  cars,  but 
the  Lieutenant  wanted  to  make  a  good 


108    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

impression  at  the  start.  The  thing  really 
developed  into  a  race.  Claxon  horns,  extra 
tires,  and  all  sorts  of  loose  objects  fell  off, 
and  I  think  we  got  even  some  of  the  sol- 
diers nervous.  I  had  two  bottles  of  beer 
lying  between  the  fender  and  the  body 
of  the  car,  which  Baylies  had  asked  me  to 
carry  the  previous  day,  and  in  the  hurry 
of  the  moment  and  the  dark  I  forgot  about 
them.  As  we  beat  it  along  at  sixty  kilo- 
meters an  hour,  I  began  to  hear  a  new 
knock  in  my  engine.  I  thought  the 
wretched  old  thing  had  every  known 
knock  already  from  piston  slap  to  main 
bearing  bang,  but  this  clink  was  a  new 
one.  It  got  no  worse  nor  less,  whether  up 
grade  or  down,  and  I  thought,  "Well,  as 
ever,  a  Ford  is  full  of  infinite  resources  for 
surprise"!  When  we  got  to  Verdun  I  be- 
gan oiling  up,  and  there  were  the  two 
bottles  and  the  explanation  of  the  knock. 
Believe  me,  we  did  n't  do  a  thing  to  them ! 
The  funny  part  of  it  was  the  boys  thought 
I  had  great  foresight  in  bringing  them 
along. 

To-day  we  are  taking  things  easy  and 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  109 

awaiting  orders.  The  man  who  sat  be- 
side me  told  me  that  the  reason  they  got 
caught  by  the  gas  was  that  they  had  taken 
their  masks  off  in  order  to  see  more  clearly, 
as  the  ground  was  treacherous  and  full  of 
shell-holes,  and  some  of  the  gas  was  still 
lurking  in  the  low  places.  We  all  went 
to  bed  at  7  a.m.  and  slept  until  Roche  was 
awakened  by  something  licking  his  face. 
Thinking  it  was  one  of  the  dogs,  he  just 
gave  it  a  slap,  and  then  the  whole  tent 
nearly  collapsed !  A  stray  cow  had  drifted 
in  and  tried  to  get  acquainted!  The  riot 
that  followed  set  all  thought  of  further 
sleep  at  an  end,  so  we  started  in  tinkering 
with  the  cars  and  generally  shaking  down. 
Temporarily,  our  camp  is  pitched  on  the 
grounds  of  an  old  chateau  at  a  little  place 
called  Veel,  just  out  of  Bar-le-Duc. 

June  11,  No  rest  for  the  wicked.  We  had 
only  just  got  thoroughly  repaired  and 
straightened  out  after  our  first  trip,  when 
we  were  called  out  again:  this  time  to  a 
little  east  of  Verdun  at  3  a.m.  Well,  we 
galloped  out  over  that  awful  road  again, 
dodging  two  solid  lines  of  "camions"  and 


110    AT  THE  FRONT   IN  A  FLIVVER 

guns  for  the  whole  fifty  kilometers.  The 
French,  by  the  way,  call  it  the  "Voie 
Sacree"  (Sacred  Way),  as,  when  the  rail- 
road was  cut,  the  use  of  this  road  for  carry- 
ing supplies  saved  Verdun.  Nobody  got 
into  much  trouble,  however,  except  La- 
throp  who  broke  his  brake,  and  as  he  was 
the  next  behind  me  he  kept  bumping  into 
me  steadily.  When  we  got  to  Dugny  we 
found  it  packed  with  ambulances.  There 
had  been  another  gas  attack.  I  ran  into 
Mason,  head  of  the  new  Section  No.  8, 
and  several  other  fellows  from  Sections 
2  and  3.  Also  the  English  *'St.  Johns" 
Section  composed  of  Quakers  who  do  not 
believe  in  fighting. 

Chapman,  the  American  airman,  was 
killed  yesterday  near  here.  He  shot  down 
three  Boches  before  he  got  his  own.  We 
saw  his  wrecked  plane. 

Section  8's  cars  were  a  sight.  It  was  a 
shame,  as  they  were  new  only  three  or 
four  weeks  ago;  but,  of  course,  they  were 
nearly  all  new  drivers  and  were  bound  to 
get  smashed  in  such  traflSc.  Most  of  their 
fenders  and  side  boxes  were  ripped  off  as 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  111 

well  as  lamps  and  radiators  which  were 
broken  or  bent.  One  of  the  men  was 
wounded  and  two  were  unable  to  stand 
the  strain  and  have  returned  to  Paris. 
We  got  back  here  at  noon,  starving,  as 
we  had  no  breakfast,  and  got  busy  fixing 
up  the  cars:  three  broken  front  axles  and 
one  back  axle.  All  I  had  to  do  was  to  clean 
out  the  carbon  and  grind  the  valves.  We 
got  mail  at  last  this  p.m.,  the  first  in 
nearly  two  weeks.  It  develops  that  the 
reason  we  were  sent  for  was  only  partly  to 
concentrate  the  American  Ambulance,  but 
also  for  the  purpose  of  replacing  a  French 
Section  of  twenty  cars,  of  which  only  ten 
are  now  working  and  whose  drivers  are 
about  all  in.  Five  of  the  men  got  caught 
in  a  tunnel  the  other  night  when  two 
Austrian  *'380's"  exploded  one  at  either 
end  and  a  third  on  top.  The  air  concus- 
sion threw  them  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet,  first  one  way  and  then  the  other, 
while  not  only  the  glass  headlights,  but 
even  the  floor  boards  of  their  cars  were 
blown  in! 


112    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Copy  of  letter  dated  6  mai,  1916 

V'  Corps  d'ArmSe  Coloniale  —  2***  Division. 

Au  nom  du  Directeur  du  Service  de  Sant6  du  1" 

Corps  d'Arm6e  Coloniale,  et  a  son  nom  personnel  le 

Medecin  Divisionnaire  de  la  2™^  Division  Coloniale, 

felicite  M.  le  Sous-Lieut,  de  Kersauson  et  ses  conduc- 

teurs  de  la  Section  Sanitaire  Americaine  N°  1,  pour 

I'empressement  digne  d'eloges  avec  lequel  dans  la  nuit 

du  4  et  celle  du  5  Mai,  1916,  ils  ont  assur6  I'evacuation 

des  blesses  des  postes  de  recueil  deCappyetdel'ficlusier. 

Le  MSdecin  Principal  de  P*'  classe,  MSdecin  Div. 

Emily. 
Q.  G.  le  6  mai,  1916. 

Copy  of  letter  dated  10  juUlety  1916 

Quartier  GSneral,  l**"  Corps  d'Armie  Coloniale. 
Direction  du  Service  de  Sant6,  le  Medecin  principal 
du  1"  Colonial,  Lasnet,  Directeur  du  Service  de 
Sant^  du  1^'  C.  &  C,  au  Lieut,   de  Kersauson, 
S.S.A.U.  No.  1. 

Au  moment  ou  la  S.S.A.U.  No.  1  est  appelee  a  suivre 
une  autre  destination,  le  Directeur  du  Service  de 
Sante  adresse  au  Lieut,  de  Kersauson  et  a  tout  le  per- 
sonnel de  la  Section  ses  chaleureuses  felicitations  pour 
le  zele,  le  courage,  et  I'activite  inlassable  dont  tons 
ont  fait  preuve  pendant  leur  sejour  sur  le  secteur  du 
1*'  Colonial. 

Les  troupes  Coloniales  ont  su  appr6cier  le  devoue- 
ment  des  Volontaires  Americains  et  elles  leur  en  gardent 
une  vive  reconnaissance.  C'est  avec  un  profond  regret 
qu 'elles  les  ont  vu  partir,  et  elles  n'oublieront  pas  de 
longtemps  les  conducteurs  hardis,  habiles,  et  empresses 
qui  venaient  enlever  leurs  blesses  jusque  dans  les 
postes  des  secours  les  plus  avances. 

(Signe)  Lasnet. 


<  "^  -s 

C  ts  •-- 

*  §  -2 

w  =  S 

£  J  o-  > 

Q  S  «    ^ 

OJ  o      -^ 

f-  —  ^    Si 

^  6  ■:'  * 

:^  «:S    = 

W  -  J*     ^ 


R^ 


ILS  NE  PASSERONT  PAS  113 

Cajpy  of  letter  dated  U  aoxit,  1916 

Le  Medecin  Major  Saint-Paul,  Medecin  chef  de  la 
127®  Division,  au  Lieutenant  Commandant  le 
S.S.A.U.  N°-  1,  Lieut,  de  Kersauson. 

Mon  Cher  Camarade:  —  J'ai  ete  extremement  con- 
trarie  lorsque  j'ai  appris  que  votre  section  quittait  la 
127®  Division.  Pendant  les  journees  dures  que  j'ai  pas- 
sees  avec  elle,  je  me  suis  assure  que  cette  section  four- 
nissait  un  service  parfait  et  faisait  preuve  du  plus  beau 
courage  militaire,  d'une  intrepidite  digne  d'admiration 
dans  les  terrains  les  plus  severement  battus  par  le  feu. 
Vos  Conducteurs  sont  des  gens  animes  d'un  esprit  de 
devouement  digne  des  plus  grandes  6loges;  flegma- 
tiques,  braves,  d'une  education  excellente  et,  ce  qui 
ajoute  encore  a  leurs  merites,  d'une  modestie  singu- 
liere. 

Je  vous  adresse  done  toutes  mes  felicitations  pour 
la  fagon  dont  vous  dirigez  ce  corps  d'^lite,  n'h^sitant 
jamais  a  payer  de  votre  personne  et  a  donner  I'example 
du  courage  et  du  devouement.  J'ai  remarque  les 
mSmes  qualites  chez  votre  adjoint  M.  Townsend  auquel 
je  vous  prie  d'adresser  ainsi  qu'  k  votre  personnel  et 
en  particulier  h  M.  Campbell  mes  souvenirs  affectueux. 

Bien  cordialement, 

Saint-Paul. 


CHAPTER  VII 

VERDUN 

For  history  's  hushed  before  them, 
And  legend  flames  afresh; 
Verdun,  the  name  of  thunder 
Is  written  on  their  flesh. 

Laurence  Binyon 

June  29.  We  have  been  moved  to 
Dugny  on  the  Meuse,  six  kilometers  from 
Verdun.  It  is  to  be  our  headquarters  Hke 
Mericourt  and  Bayonvillers,  and  we  are  to 
run  up  to  the  "postes  de  secours"  from 
here.  We  were  taken  to  Fort  Tavannes, 
the  cabaret,  and  other  "  postes  de  secours." 
While  at  the  cabaret  the  Germans  began 
shelling  the  series  of  batteries  which  were 
all  along  the  road.  Some  twenty  huge  (at 
least,  they  seemed  huge  to  us)  shells  fell 
around  us.  This  was  the  heaviest  shell-fire  I 
have  yet  been  under,  and  I  sure  was  glad  to 
have  something  to  do  to  keep  my  mind  off 
of  it.  Two  men  about  one  hundred  yards 
away  were  decapitated  and  there  were  a 
number  of  dead  horses  about.    I  can  see 


VERDUN  115 

we  are  going  to  have  a  lively  time.  Coming 
back,  an  incendiary  shell  set  a  big  house 
on  fire  on  the  outskirts  of  Verdun,  and  the 
shells  came  whirring  rapidly.  We  passed 
several  smashed  ammunition  wagons  and 
one  ambulance  all  in  pieces.  After  dinner 
we  saw  some  German  prisoners  going  by. 
They  had  just  been  captured  and  were  a 
bedraggled  lot,  but  were  neither  extremely 
young  nor  extremely  old,  indicating  that 
there  is  still  a  pretty  good  "bunch"  of 
Boches  left.  We  started  in  our  service 
this  evening  and  calls  began  to  come  in 
right  at  dinner-time.  We  send  a  car  out 
every  twenty-five  minutes  at  night,  but 
in.  the  daytime  we  go  every  hour  and  a 
half.  There  is  practically  no  "repos." 
Alternate  days  we  do  "Bureau"  calls,  in- 
terchanging with  Section  8,  which  takes 
on  the  regular  cabaret  run. 

One  gets  some  astonishing  directions 
when  one  is  working  in  a  new  country  at 
night.  For  instance,  in  going  to  Fort  Ta- 
vannes,  which  is  now  being  shelled  by  the 

Germans,  I  was  told  to  go  along  the 

road,  until  I  passed  two  smells  and  then 


116    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

turn  to  the  left.  This  referred  to  two  piles 
of  dead  horses.  Some  Russians  tried  to 
escape  from  Metz  last  night  and  two  suc- 
ceeded. The  Russian  force  is  not  just 
around  here  apparently.  At  least  I  hear 
nothing  of  them. 

Some  Section  2  men  drifted  into  town 
to-day.  They  are  working  on  the  Mort 
Homme  and  Hill  304.  I  went  over  with 
End,  who  talks  German,  to  see  the  pris- 
oners. They  are  not  such  a  bad -looking 
lot  —  they  are  well  built  and  wiry,  and 
they  don't  look  ill-fed.  Neither  were  they 
depressed,  but  answered  questions  freely, 
looking  us  straight  in  the  eyes.  Their- 
average  age  was  twenty-four  to  twenty- 
five,  and  they  said  they  had  not  been 
shifted  back  and  forth  as  is  so  often  re- 
ported, but  had  been  here  right  along.  Al- 
together I  got  an  impression  that  they 
were  right  on  the  job.  They  were  all  sur- 
prised to  find  we  were  Americans  and  not 
English. 

The  country  just  behind  the  front  lines 
is  littered  with  broken  cars,  smashed 
wagons,  and  dead  animals.    Nobody  has 


VERDUN  117 

time  to  take  them  away.  We  gathered  in 
some  useful  springs  and  an  anvil  to-day 
and  hope  to  tow  in  a  whole  "camion" 
shortly  that  looks  as  if  it  could  be  made  to 
run.  Verdun  itself  is  pretty  well  shot  to 
pieces.  I  noticed  a  marble  statue  of  Na- 
poleon standing  up  in  a  hole  above  the 
street  which  used  to  be  a  window  in  a 
house.  It  creates  a  rather  impressive  ef- 
fect, as  it  looks  out  over  the  ruins  and 
desolation  toward  the  smoking,  rocking 
hills. 

June  30.  Edwards  had  a  close  call  last 
night.  A  shell  exploded  right  over  his  car 
and  a  dozen  pieces  were  cut  through  the 
top  and  sides;  even  went  through  the 
tool  box  under  his  seat  and  perforated  his 
oil  can,  yet  not  one  touched  him.  He  con- 
tinued to  work  all  night,  and  should  get 
the  Croix,  except  that  we  are  new  here  and 
the  Lieutenant  may  not  cite  him.^ 

Bowman  carried  a  Division  Commander 
whose  leg  was  cut  off  by  a  "77."  He  died 
in  the  car  in  the  arms  of  his  orderly,  whose 

*  L.  Brooke  Edwards,  of  Philadelphia,  did  get  the 
Croix  de  Guerre. 


118    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

only  words  were,  "It's  too  bad,  too  bad,to 
be  killed  by  a  mere  '  77 '  after  all  he 's  been 
through."  Nothing  under  a  "130"  is  re- 
garded as  amounting  to  much  around 
here. 

Latimer  broke  an  axle  in  a  shell-hole; 
Woodworth  fell  into  one,  too,  and  had  to 
be  hauled  out.  The  trouble  is,  the  new 
holes  are  made  between  the  time  one  goes 
out  and  comes  back,  and  so  they  fool  one. 
Thiaumont  seems  to  be  the  Boche  objec- 
tive just  now.  It  has  changed  hands  four 
times  already. 

July  1.  A  chance  of  six  days'  Paris  "  per- 
mission," due  to-day,  is  gone.  Goodness 
knows  when  I  will  get  a  holiday  now,  and 
I  certainly  had  looked  forward  to  the  4th 
in  Paris.  Well,  there  will  be  no  lack  of 
noisy  celebration  around  here,  but  not  ex- 
actly as  "safe  and  sane"  as  in  the  States. 
Woody  goes  to-day.  I'm  terribly  sorry. 
He 's  the  best  friend  I  've  made  in  the  Sec- 
tion. I  shall  send  the  second  and  third 
parts  of  this  diary  by  him. 

We  have  now  three  dogs  attached  to 
the  Section.   Besides  "Vic,"  Magoun  has 


VERDUN  119 

picked  up  a  little  woolly  one  at  Bayon- 
villers;  while  Bowman  got  a  sad  sort  of 
mongrel  pointer  along  the  road  to  Bar-le- 
Duc.  They  are  really  more  trouble  than 
they  are  worth,  as  they  continually  get 
lost,  while  at  night  they  come  nosing  into 
the  men's  blankets  and  get  kicked  out  to 
the  accompaniment  of  the  usual  yelping. 
Fleas,  of  course,  also  help !  There  are  signs, 
I  see,  of  another  joining  the  squad  here. 
It  looks  somewhat  like  a  young  hyena 
and  is  hanging  around  the  cantonment. 
The  tame  crows  and  fox  of  the  "camion" 
drivers  at  Bayonvillers  were  amusing  and 
could  be  caged,  but  these  pups  are  con- 
tinually escaping.  What  with  our  three 
tents,  the  Zouave,  "Lizzie,"  and  the  varied 
menagerie,  we  certainly  are  assuming  the 
aspect  of  a  traveling  circus. 

July  2.  I  had  an  amusing  trip  with  a 
Captain  this  morning.  I  had  been  running 
all  night  from  Tavannes  and  the  cabaret. 
The  Germans  made  an  attack  near  Vaux 
and  our  "tir  de  barrage"  stopped  it.  We 
drove  past  some  one  hundred  guns,  "  75's  " 
and  "  105's,"  whose  muzzles  project  over 


120    AT.  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

the  road,  and  when  they  fire  as  we  pass 
in  an  incessant  *'tir  rapide,"  the  noise  is 
enough  to  break  the  ear  drums.  I  stuff 
cotton  in  my  ears  and  keep  my  mouth 
open.  The  sheets  of  flame  come  half  across 
the  road  and  the  concussion  has  even 
broken  some  of  the  little  windows  in  the 
cars. 

Well,  this  Captain  was  at  Dugny  and 
asked  me  to  take  him  up  to  Tavannes,  as 
he  was  on  his  way  to  the  front  lines.  Being 
daylight  it  was  against  our  official  rules; 
but,  individually,  we  endeavor  to  be  of  as 
much  aid  as  we  can  to  the  army  and  often 
waive  such  rules.  When  we  passed  the 
cabaret  we  could  see  the  German  "sau- 
cisses,"  and,  of  course,  they  could  see  us. 
At  Tavannes,  the  Captain  suggested  that 
I  carry  him  on  to  the  Mardi  Gras  redoubt 
close  to  the  lines  and  in  plain  sight.  I  told 
him  I  was  "under  his  orders,"  so  we  pro- 
ceeded, passing  more  dead  horses  and  all 
sorts  of  smashed  stuff,  and  winding  our 
way  around  huge  craters.  At  last  we  got 
there.  In  thanking  me  he  said  some  com- 
plimentary things,  and  remarked  that  he 


VERDUN  121 

had  asked  a  member  of  another  Ambu- 
lance Section  to  take  him  up  here  a  few 
days  ago,  and  that  he  had  refused,  although 
it  was  still  only  dawn. 

Incidentally  I  picked  up  three  '*  blesses  " 
at  the  redoubt  who  were  about  to  be  taken 
the  couple  of  miles  down  to  the  cabaret 
*'poste  de  secours"  on  "pousse-pousses," 
little  two-wheeled  pushcarts  which  carry 
one  stretcher.  This  meant  the  saving  of  an 
hour  or  more  for  them.  When  I  got  back 
here,  I  found  Will  Irwin  and  another  mag- 
azine writer  being  shown  the  fighting  by 
Piatt  Andrew.  Unfortunately  they  missed 
the  *'  tir  de  barrage  "  which,  alone,  is  worth 
crossing  the  ocean  to  see.  A  solid  line  of 
flame  several  kilometers  long,  crowned  by 
exploding  shrapnel  and  all  kinds  of  colored 
lights  and  flares  and  a  noise  so  deafening 
as  to  make  one's  head  reel  and  one's  brain 
stop  working.  There  were  eleven  hundred 
guns  working  just  as  fast  as  they  could 
(about  twenty-five  shots  a  minute)  for  an 
hour  in  the  space  of  about  two  square 
miles.  No  words  of  mine  can  do  justice  to 
that  "tir  de  barrage"  across  the  Etain 


122    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

road.  I  have  been  scared  in  my  life,  but 
never  like  that.  The  German  "incomers'* 
one  regards  as  luck.  One  hears  the  warning 
whistle  and  thinks  it 's  coming  right  at  one, 
and  it  falls  a  hundred  yards  away.  Again 
one  hears  the  whistle  and  regards  it  as  dis- 
tant —  and  she  blows  up  right  beside  one. 
There 's  a  cheerful  uncertainty  that  means 
bad  luck  if  one  is  hit;  but  when  obliged  to 
drive  in  front,  within  twenty  feet,  of  those 
**75's,"  and  others,  with  the  flame  ap- 
parently surrounding  you,  and  unable  to 
hear  or  think  for  the  stunning  noise,  you 
don't  know  whether  the  motor  is  going, 
and  you  also  wonder  where  the  wads  are 
going.  They,  alone,  are  enough  to  kill  a 
man.  You  also  hope  the  gunners  are  on 
to  their  job,  as  some  new  recruit  might 
aim  a  foot  too  low !  Then,  occasionally,  a 
badly  timed  shot  bursts  at  the  muzzle, 
which  means  exactly  above  the  car.  Be- 
h'eve  me,  I'd  rather  take  a  chance  with 
the  erratic  "Germ"  incomers  than  to 
have  to  pass  that  often.  If  I  get  out  of  this 
without  being  permanently  deaf,  I'll  be 
lucky. 


VERDUN  123 

Just  as  the  old  Fokkers  beat  all  other 
war  planes  and  the  Nieuports  beat  the 
Fokkers  in  point  of  speed,  the  Bodies 
have  suddenly,  within  the  last  few  days, 
introduced  a  new  Fokker  much  faster 
than  the  fastest  Nieuport.  Johnston,  one 
of  the  American  Ambulance  men  who 
went  into  the  Aviation  Corps,  and  is  in  the 
camp  at  Bar-le-Duc,  told  Sponagle  to-day 
that  he  and  his  squadron  were  caught  by 
surprise  over  the  German  lines,  and  only 
escaped  by  the  greatest  luck.  The  French 
and  English,  of  course,  will  immediately 
start  to  build  an  even  faster  plane,  but 
temporarily  the  supremacy  of  the  air  ap- 
pears to  have  been  snatched  from  the  Al- 
lies and  even  our  own  aviators  admit  it. 

The  French  batteries  are  certainly  beau- 
tifully concealed.  One  can  only  spot  them 
at  night  by  the  flashes.  In  the  daytime 
they  shoot  and  shoot  and  one  never  sees 
them. 

July  3.  George  End  this  morning  saw  a 
man  killed  by  the  shock  of  a  "210"  on 
the  road  into  Verdun.  The  "Germs" 
were  attacking  Thiaumont  again.    The 


124    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

shell  exploded  just  beside  the  road  and 
the  man  was  n't  even  touched,  but  was 
killed  by  the  shock. 

Funny  the  directions  the  fellows  give 
each  other  as  to  the  safest  roads  to  take! 
End,  of  course,  advised  me  not  to  go  to 
the  cabaret  by  way  of  Verdun,  but  to  go 
through  the  woods  where  Edwards  was 
hit.  Ten  minutes  later  Francklyn  came 
in  and  said  to  be  sure  to  take  the  road 
through  Verdun,  as  the  Germans  were 
shelling  h — 1  out  of  the  "casernes"  on  the 
wood  road,  and  to  be  careful.  Imbrie, 
with  his  usual  cheerfulness,  remarked: 
"Careful!  Careful!  Good  Lord,  how's 
anybody  going  to  be  careful?  If  we 
wanted  to  be  careful  we  should  have 
been  careful  not  to  leave  America!" 

July  4.  My  idea  of  nothing  to  do  is  to 
go  out  under  shell-fire  in  the  pouring  rain. 
That's  what  Squad  A  of  Section  1  has 
been  doing  all  day.  It  rains  thirty  days 
out  of  each  thirty-one  in  the  month,  and 
in  those  months  that  have  only  thirty 
days,  it  is  n't  clear  at  all. 

While  we  were  swimming  in  the  Meuse 


VERDUN  125 

yesterday,  we  saw  a  Boche  aeroplane  at- 
tack one  of  the  fifteen  "saucisses"  around 
Verdun  and  in  a  few  moments  the  thing 
burst  into  flame  and  fell  like  a  plummet. 
The  observer  was  killed. 

The  French  chased  the  aviator,  but  he 
got  away. 

Imbrie  is  certainly  a  scream.  He  re- 
marked to-day  that  on  going  out  on  his 
run  to  the  '*poste"  the  road  was  O.K.,  but 
coming  back  he  saw  a  fresh-killed  horse. 
He  said:  "Now,  that's  the  sort  of  thing 
that  causes  one  to  stop  and  reflect,  but 
I  did  n't.  I  jammed  down  both  levers 
and  did  my  reflecting  at  forty  miles  an 
hour!"  There  are  a  number  of  Philadel- 
phia cars  in  Sections  1  and  8.  Two  new 
ones  from  the  Huntingdon  Valley  Country 
Club  came  up  yesterday.  There  is  one 
from  Henry  Brinton  Coxe,  and  one  from 
John'  K.  Mitchell,  one  from  the  Univer- 
sity Club,  one  from  J.  H.  McFadden,  one 
from  George  F.  McFadden,  and  one  from 
Clement  B.  Newbold. 

Great  news!  The  Government  has 
awarded  forty -eight  hours'  "permission" 


126    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

to  all  Americans  in  the  army  to  allow 
them  to  celebrate  the  4th  of  July.  Only 
five  of  our  Section  are  allowed  to  go,  how- 
ever, but  as  my  regular  "permission"  was 
due  July  1st,  along  with  Roche,  Lewis, 
Paul,  and  Edwards,  we  were  the  five  se- 
lected. Section  8  is  allowing  eleven  men 
off;  but,  of  course,  they  have  been  here 
longer  and  deserve  it  more.  All  the  avia- 
tors and  all  the  other  Sections  are  letting 
men  go  down,  and,  believe  me,  we  '11  have 
big  times  in  Paris.  The  Boches  got  Thiau- 
mont  this  morning;  but  I  guess  that's 
about  all  for  them  if  the  Somme  offensive 
continues  to  progress. 

July  5.  I  arrived  in  Paris  yesterday 
with  five  to  ten  men  from  each  of  the 
American  Ambulance  Sections  and  some 
Norton  men,  and  saw  all  the  old  bunch 

of  fellows  at  Henri's,  including ,  who 

invited  me  to  dinner  at  Maxim's.  He  gets 
his  divorce  to-day!  This  morning,  after 
a  hectic  night,  I  stopped  at  the  hospital  to 
see  our  wounded  "ambulanciers,"  espe- 
cially Hollingshead,  of  the  Norton  Squad, 
who  came  over  on  the  steamer  with  me.  He 


VERDUN  127 

got  hit  on  the  shoulder  at  Bras,  near  the 
Mort  Homme;  but  is  coming  around  all 
right.  The  three  "blesses"  whom  he  was 
carrying  were  killed  and  the  car  was 
smashed.  The  two  Frenchmen  were  bur- 
ied, but  they  left  the  body  of  the  Boche 
lying  in  the  ambulance  for  the  Germans 
to  find.  They  were  thought  to  be  about  to 
capture  the  place  at  the  time,  but  I  be- 
lieve have  since  been  pushed  back.  I  saw 
several  other  wounded  American  Ambu- 
lance men  including  the  new  fellow  from 
Section  8  who  had  only  been  at  the  Front 
about  twenty -four  hours  before  he  got  a 
piece  of  shrapnel  in  the  arm.  Barber,  the 
Section  4  man  who  got  an  "eclat"  in  his 
stomach, will  recover,  after  all. 

July  9.  I  got  back  yesterday  and 
worked  on  the  car  all  day  putting  in  a 
new  engine.  Ned  Townsend  returned ;  he, 
Roche,  and  Paul  bringing  up  some  new,  or 
rather  rebuilt,  cars.  They  are  not  balls  of 
fire  by  any  means ;  but  anything  is  better 
than  driving  some  of  the  old  cripples  they 
heretofore  have  handed  us.  George  End 
is  down  with  dysentery,  and  some  of  the 


128    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

others  also  complain  of  it,  Vic  White 
particularly. 

We  had  to  shoot  the  little  woolly  dog. 
Its  ribs  were  crushed  by  a  car,  poor  little 
beggar !  Section  8  has  gone  *'  en  repos  "and 
we  are  now  working  with  new  English  and 
French  Sections.  We  have  had  no  trouble 
whatever  in  holding  up  our  end  so  far.  An 
attack  on  Souville  last  night  was  repulsed. 
Ned  Townsend  was  up  there,  and  had  a 
splinter  clink  off  his  "tin  derby";  the 
first  time  I've  actually  known  of  their 
being  useful  to  us  except  to  keep  the  rain 
off.  In  the  trenches  when  only  the  head 
is  exposed,  of  course,  they  are  very  useful; 
but  judging  from  the  general  line  of  solid 
ivory  nuts  we  've  got  with  us,  other  parts 
of  the  body  require  more  protection  than 
the  dome! 

I've  become  very  humble  of  late.  I, 
honestly,  never  realized  what  an  awful  ass 
I  must  have  been  at  the  start  until  (en- 
tirely involuntarily)  I  was  forced  to  listen 
to  the  idiotic  drool  pulled  by  some  of  the 
new  men  in  the  watches  of  the  night.  They 
all  regard  themselves  as  young  Atlases 


NELSON,    EDWARD    TOWNSEND,    AND    ROCHE 


LOADING    AX   AMBULANCE   WITH   THE  HELP   OF   A   GERMAN 
PRISONER 


VERDUN  129 

supporting  France  and  the  world  through 
the  grace  of  God  and  Ford.  And  oh,  those 
eternal  arguments  about  the  whateverness 
of  whichever !  —  or  words  to  that  effect  — 
when  all  that  it  is  necessary  for  them  to 
know  and  do,  is  to  crank  a  car  and  steer 
it  to  where  they  are  told  to  go! 

July  10.  Having  had  swims  in  the 
Somme,  the  Marne,  and  the  Meuse,  we 
are  now  looking  forward  to  a  paddle  on 
the  Rhine.  I  have  a  hunch  that  before 
very  long  there  may  be  an  attack  to  the 
east  of  Verdun  beyond  the  St.-Mihiel 
salient,  or  possibly  right  there.  My  only 
reason  for  this  is  the  advent  of  fresh 
Senegalese  and  other  Colonial  attacking 
troops,  such  as  we  saw  on  the  Somme. 
Also  the  Russians  on  this  front  are  yet  to 
be  heard  from,  while  their  brethren  on  the 
other  side  are  doubtless  doing  as  well. 
Bonne  nouvelle!  I  have  been  given  a 
new  car;  not  a  made-over  wreck,  but  a  real 
new  one. 

July  11,  4  A.M.  I  am  writing  here  at 
the  Etain-Moulinville  cross-road  beside 
a  dead  and  odoriferous  horse.  Watching 


130    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

the  dawn  break  and  listening  to  the  whin- 
ing of  the  shells  from  both  sides  pass- 
ing overhead,  and  now  and  then  one 
breaking  entirely  too  near  for  comfort  is, 
believe  me,  no  place  for  a  nervous  child! 
I  'm  simply  writing  this  to  keep  my  mind 
off  the  crape  and  "  don't-he-look-natural- 
please-omit-flowers "  stuff!  It's  cold,  and 
it's  going  to  rain,  and  these  blessed 
*'brancardiers"  are  late  with  their  trench 
"pousse-pousses."  I'm  also  hungry  and 
I'd  give  a  quarter  for  a  fifteen-cent  drink; 
and  I'd  as  leave  have  it  at  the  Racquet 
Club  in  old  Philly  as  here.  Just  now  the 
Boches  are  firing  "210's"  which  are  land- 
ing in  the  ravine  a  hundred  yards  away. 
I  hope  they  '11  keep  perfectly  accurate  and 
are  not  going  to  give  any  raw  greenhorns 
practice.  I  entirely  sympathize  with  the 
fellow  in  Bairnsfather's  famous  cartoon: 
"There'll  be  dirty  work  at  the  cross-road 
to-night." 

Later.  It  appears  that  one  of  the  shells 
I  listened  to  lit  close  to  "Huts"  Town- 
send 's  car  at  the  Tavannes  cross-road  and 
nearly  crowned  old  Roger.  They  came  up 


VERDUN  131 

and  ordered  me  to  return,  as  I  had  stayed 
over  my  allotted  time. 

In  the  afternoon,  the  Lieutenant,  Spo- 
nagle,  and  I  went  up  to  Fort  Dugny  and 
had  the  luck  to  see  another  attack  on  Sou- 
ville.  For  once  it  was  clear  and  the  sight 
was  marvelous.  The  whole  hill  smoked. 
We  also  saw  the  American  Escadrille  go 
into  action,  six  of  them;  but  they  disap- 
peared in  the  smoke  far  back  of  the  Ger- 
man lines.  The  big  bombardment  was 
followed  by  a  gas  attack  between  Vaux 
and  Douaumont,  and  the  fight  was  fierce 
all  night,  around  Damloup.  We  began  to 
get  calls  around  5  a.m.  and,  thereafter,  ran 
all  day  under  heavy  fire.  I  saw  a  bully 
**  155  "  shell  on  the  road  and  wanted  to  pick 
it  up,  and  had  already  slowed  down,  when 
one  burst  within  thirty  feet  of  the  car — I 
changed  my  mind  and  moved  on !  Nearly 
all  the  men  we  carried  were ' '  gassed . ' '  They 
kept  coming  in  all  day  from  the  trenches, 
or  rather  shell  holes,  in  the  Bois  Fumant 
and  Froide  Terre  near  Fleury.  We  alone 
carried  some  twelve  hundred  of  them,  and 
believe  me,  it  was  some  strain. 


132    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Many  new  dead  horses  along  the  road. 
The  gas  gets  them,  even  the  smallest 
whiff,  and,  of  course,  they  have  no  masks. 
Even  at  10  a.m.  there  was  still  enough  gas 
to  make  our  eyes  smart.  The  Germans 
tried  a  new  dodge,  —  a  sort  of  "tir  de 
barrage  "  of  "  77  "  gas  shells.  They  do  not 
make  much  noise,  just  about  as  much  as  a 
yacht  cannon,  but  the  gas  spreads  fast.  It 
was  about  forty  feet  high  and  extended  for 
about  two  hundred  meters  along  the  Etain 
road.  The  men  who  were  caught  by  it  all 
admitted  they  had  taken  off  their  masks 
for  one  reason  or  another.  Some  get  sick 
at  their  stomachs  and  that  forces  them  to 
take  off  their  masks.  It  is  not  amusing  to 
talk  to  men  who  don't  know  they're  as 
good  as  dead!  One  really  should  have 
two  masks,  and  switch  in  such  a  case,  not 
breathing  meantime.  We  all  have  had 
another  one  issued  to  us  to-day. 

The  work  became  exactly  like  a  road 
race.  At  our  cantonment,  after  deliver- 
ing the  wounded,  we  had  a  table  on  which 
were  coffee  and  crackers.  There  were  ex- 
tra tires,  oil,  water,  and  gasoline,  and  the 


VERDUN  133 

mechanics  all  ready  to  put  them  in.  We 
made  eleven  round  trips  during  the  day 
from  6  A.M.  to  6  P.M.  Some  cars  only  carry 
five  and  some  six,  so  that  the  total  wounded 
carried  would  have  been  over  eleven  hun- 
dred if  all  had  been  going  perfectly.  Dur- 
ing the  night  we  necessarily  worked  slower, 
but  carried  some  nine  hundred,  1  should 
judge.  I  broke  a  spring  clip  which  de- 
tained me  a  little  while,  and  I  lost  about  a 
half-hour  around  noon,  but  made  it  up 
later.  The  doings  of  the  last  two  days  are 
chronicled  more  or  less  in  the  "official  com- 
muniques." The  bombardment  being  dig- 
nified by  the  term  —  "Extreme  violence." 

The  Germans  again  got  within  five  hun- 
dred yards  of  Tavannes,  by  the  use  of 
gas.  This  evening,  at  6.30  p.m.,  without 
artillery  preparation,  the  French  coun- 
ter-attack was  made  and  was  entirely 
successful.  Not  only  was  all  lost  ground 
regained,  but  they  captured  some  one 
hundred  prisoners,  several  machine  guns, 
etc.  The  leaving  out  of  the  artillery 
preparation  entirely  fooled  the  Boches. 

As  the  hospitals  are  overflowing,  we  have 


134    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

had  to  take  in  a  lot  of  the  gassed  men  with 
us  in  our  cantonment.  It  is  pathetic  to 
hear  them  try  to  get  their  breath  as  if  they 
were  drowning;  also  it's  not  conducive  to 
sleep.  I  carried  the  Commandant  who  was 
in  the  attack.  He  had  a  piece  of  shell  in 
his  stomach,  but  he  was  a  brave  beggar. 
Never  said  a  word,  and  thanked  me  when 
I  apologized  for  the  jolting  he  got.  The 
*' Germs"  got  the  Damloup  redoubt  to- 
day. 

We  nearly  had  a  scrap  of  our  own  just 
now.  One  man  implied  that  another  had 
been  running  less  than  the  rest.  He  was 
sent  to  call  him  and  found  him  sleeping 
while  all  the  others  were  on  the  road.  We 
had  to  pull  them  apart.  It  is  due  to  over- 
work, overexcitement,  strain.  Every  one's 
nerves  are  on  edge. 

It's  wonderful  to  see  the  French  artil- 
lery in  action.  Our  "poste"  at  the  cabaret 
is  entirely  surrounded  by  batteries;  and  to 
see  the  relief  come  galloping  up,  split  in 
fours,  and  each  go  dashing  out  into  the 
fields  by  the  pale  light  of  a  clouded  moon, 
is  a  sight  one  can  never  forget.   In  about 


VERDUN  135 

two  minutes  they  are  unhooked  and  old 
Mr.  Boche  is  receiving  "billets-doux  de 
soixante-quinze." 

We  were  ordered  to  move  to  rejoin  the 
Division  which  has  been  "en  repos"  about 
a  week.  The  Boches  started  shelling  the 
railway  station  with  the  Skoda  "380's" 
this  afternoon;  but  everybody  was  too 
sleepy  even  to  go  up  to  photograph  it. 
They  never  hit  it,  anyway,  and  the  old 
peasant  women  continue  to  tend  their 
gardens  all  around  the  huge  shell  holes. 
All  through  the  valley  back  of  Tillat,  Ta- 
vannes,  the  Mort  Homme,  and  so  forth, 
the  peasants  till  their  fields  under  shell- 
fire.  Now  and  then  they  lose  a  horse 
through  asphyxiating  gas;  but  otherwise 
they  don't  give  a  curse  for  the  Germans. 

July  13.  We  leave  in  caravan  to-day 
to  rejoin  our  Division  "en  repos"  at  a 
little  village  outside  of  Bar-le-Duc.  The 
heavy  fighting  has  died  down  again  and 
now  everything  is  quiet.  We  have  received 
quite  a  lot  of  praise  for  our  work  through 
the  gas  attack.  The  new  location  is  Tan- 
nois,  just  outside  of  Bar-le-Duc.    We  are 


136    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

beautifully  situated  in  a  little  valley,  with 
a  clear  mountain  spring,  ripe  cherry  trees, 
and  wild  strawberries  everywhere.  We 
all  celebrated  the  day  with  champagne, 
and  Pierre  got  fresh  with  the  Lieutenant 
and  was  given  twenty-four  hours  in  jail; 
but  to-morrow  being  the  14th,  the  sen- 
tence really  only  holds  good  for  a  few 
hours,  as  all  minor  offenders  are  to  be  re- 
leased. The  Lieutenant  knew  that  before 
he  sent  Pierre  to  j  ail .  The ' '  Loot, ' '  as  every 
one  calls  him,  is  really  one  of  the  best  of 
fellows,  and  knows  just  how  to  handle 
the  men  so  that  they  don't  feel  too  much 
restraint,  and  yet  are  kept  well  in  hand. 
Roche  and  I  go  to  Paris  on  our  long-de- 
layed "permissions"  to-morrow.  W^insor 
is  going  down  on  sick-leave.  End  joins  us 
to-morrow.  He  leaves  for  good,  after  two 
years'  service,  partly  in  Serbia. 

We  had  a  mock  marriage  to-day  with  a 
little  girl  in  an  "epicerie"  shop,  —  who 
was  tickled  to  death  and  got  right  into  the 
spirit  of  it,  —  and  Sam  Paul.  Sam  was  so 
rattled  he  could  n't  say  or  do  anything 
but  blush!  Josh  Campbell  was  the  Master 


VERDUN  137 

of  Ceremonies  and  it  was  a  scream !  They 
bathed  the  old  Zouave  cook,  De  Vaux, 
in  champagne. 

The  "Loot"  is  tickled  to  death  with 
the  way  the  Section  went  through  the  at- 
tack. He  received  an  awfully  nice  letter 
from  the  General  of  the  Division,  and  he 
told  Roche  and  me  coming  down  in  the 
train  that  he  believed  the  whole  Section 
might  get  cited  —  a  very  unusual  thing. 
It  appears  that  we  broke  the  record  for 
the  number  of  wounded  carried  dur- 
ing twenty -four  hours  in  that  Sector,  or 
something  of  the  sort.  Culbertson  got  ofif 
a  classic  to-day.  He  was  talking  of  heavy 
shell-fire  coming  in,  and  of  being  scared, 
and  somebody  asked  him  the  size  of  it. 
He  replied,  "Oh,  I  guess  about  a '  105 '  or, 
you  know,  a  '380'  Bowman"!  We  speak 
of  the  "77's"  and  "105's"  as  "380  Bow- 
mans"  now.^ 

July  17.  Trouville  and  a  salt  bath.  A 
thing  I've  forgotten  to  mention  is  the 
staining  of  the  white  horses  a  sort  of  sorrel. 

*  Bowman  was  a  young  man  in  whose  eyes  things 
loomed  large.  Hence  the  joke. 


138    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

What  reminded  me  of  it  just  now  was  the 
way  they  are  fading,  on  account  of  the 
months  of  rain.  Here  in  Trouville  they 
are  becoming  a  sort  of  pale  "baby  pink.'* 
Some  of  the  dead  horses  around  Verdun 
also  have  been  washed  almost  white  again 
by  the  rain.  They  are  very  useful  land- 
marks at  night. 

I  have  seen  more  pathetic  sights  here 
than  almost  anywhere  else.  The  Trou- 
ville and  Deauville  casinos  are  conva- 
lescent hospitals.  Most  of  the  big  hotels 
are  also.  I  was  driving  along  the  land 
just  back  of  the  beach,  past  the  fine-look- 
ing private  villas,  when  we  came  to  a 
series  of  the  same  sort  which  looked  like 
''Little  Italy,"  with  the  clothes  hanging 
out  and  the  babies  all  over  everything  and 
small  chimneys  sticking  out  of  the  win- 
dows, the  regular  New  York  tenement 
look.  I  asked  what  on  earth  it  was  doing 
in  the  middle  of  Trouville,  and  was  told 
that  it  was  part  of  the  Belgian  refugee 
camp  sections,  which  are  scattered  all 
along  the  northwest  coast.  One  almost 
has  to  apologize  for  not  being  a  cripple  at 


VERDUN  139 

Trouville.  It 's  terrible  to  stand  the  looks 
of  scorn!  But  one  can't  stop  and  explain 
to  each  individual  that  one  has  been  dodg- 
ing shells  at  Verdun  for  two  weeks,  and  is 
only  on  a  two-days'  "permission"  here. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

*'en  repos" 

France,  you  may  pin  sparse  tokens  with  war-tried  6ngers 
to  the  breasts  that  lift  beneath  eyes  that  look  to  you  living 
and  dying. 

But  the  decoration  you  have  set  in  these  faces  belongs  to 
millions  that  march  and  that  serve  you  still,  living  or  dead. 

John  Curtis  Underwood 

Paris,  July  24.  Old  End  finally  left. 
He  was  a  good  fellow.  I  remember  the 
time  when  he  forgot  the  password  for 
the  bridge  at  Cappy,  which  the  Germans 
were  diligently  trying  for  with  "77's" 
and  "105's."  The  sentry  stopped  him,  of 
course,  asking  the  word,  and  in  his  slow, 
drawling,  vague  way  George  said  in  Eng- 
lish, which,  of  course,  the  sentry  could  n't 
understand,  "I  don't  remember  exactly, 
but  it  seems  to  me  it  sounded  something 
like  'Motor  Boat.' "  The  word  was  "Mon- 
tauban."  What  with  the  noise  of  the 
bursting  shells  and  the  rest,  the  sentry 
simply  gave  it  up  and  let  him  pass.  He 
woke  me  up  at  4  a.m.  to  say  good-bye 
and  to  give  him  a  cocktail. 


EN  REPOS  141 

I  ran  into  Waldo  Peirce  in  the  chateau, 
with  Foster,  who  is  going  to  Serbia  with 
the  Rockefeller ' '  Foundation."  Peirce  had 
a  close  call  at  Nouvelle  Fleury.  A  piece 
of  shrapnel  got  him  in  the  chest,  but  was 
deflected  by  his  heavy  leather  pocket-book 
which  was  filled  with  papers  and  money. 
Peirce  says  he 's  never  going  to  be  without 
money  hereafter  —  he  does  n't  care  whose ! 
He's  shaved  his  beard  and  lost  about 
twenty  pounds.   I  hardly  recognized  him. 

Cartier  tells  me  that  when  Waldo's  wife 
wrote  asking  him  when  he  was  coming 
back,  he  did  n't  answer;  then  she  cabled 
requesting  a  reply;  so  he  wired  back  — 
"Apres  la  guerre." 

July  25.  Bonne  nouvelle !  The  Section 
has  been  cited  by  the  Order  of  the  Divi- 
sion for  the  work  before  Verdun.  They 
will  have  to  solder  the  Cross  on  an  oil  can, 
I  suppose,  as  we  carry  no  pennant.  A  thing 
that  is  worthy  of  record,  but  which  as  we 
all  know  it  so  thoroughly  I  had  forgotten 
to  mention  in  the  part  of  this  diary  writ- 
ten at  Dugny,  is  that  "Huts" — otherwise 
called  "Herbert" — Townsend,  of  New 


142    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

York,  our  leader,  has  all  kinds  of  nerve. 
When  I  went  up  to  the  cabaret  the  night 
of  the  final  gas  attack  on  Souville,  I 
thought,  each  time,  that  his  calm  manner 
and  perfectly  casual  talk  only  acted  on  me 
personally.  I  was  scared  so  that  I  did  n't 
know  whether  I  was  coming  or  going,  al- 
though, of  course,  I  did  not  show  it;  but 
every  man  of  our  Section  with  whom  I 
have  since  talked  said  the  same  thing.  Old 
"Huts"  steadied  us  down,  whereas  if  he 
had  shown  signs  of  getting  rattled,  some  of 
us  might  have  become  nervous.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  record  we  all  rolled  thirty-two  hours 
without  a   serious  hitch  of  any  kind  — 

except  when  C and  B suddenly 

declared  a  personal  war  of  their  own. 
*'Huts"  will  wear  the  Croix,  I  suppose, 
and  he  deserves  to  wear  a  dozen  of  them. 
July  26.  Off  at  last  in  the  Hotchkiss. 
I  made  the  trip  without  a  hitch.  The  boys 
were  all  glad  to  see  us.  We  brought  much 
mail,  and  cakes,  and  so  forth.  On  our  way 
we  stopped  at  Montmirail  for  lunch.  There 
we  ran  into  a  Mrs.  Squiers,  of  New  York, 
who  had  become  a  Sister  of  St.  Vincent  de 


'   EN  REPOS  143 

Paul  and  is  located  at  a  hospital  there. 
She  told  us  that  one  of  her  sons  was  in  the 
English  Ambulance  Service  and  the  other 
in  a  motor  battery.  She  was  glad  to  talk 
with  English-speaking  people  again,  she 
said,  after  so  long;  but  as  she  did  all  the 
talking  I  could  n't  see  that  we  did  her 
much  good. 

Triaucourt,  July  Tt.  We  were  deco- 
rated to-day  by  the  Divisionnaire.  He  was 
unusually  complimentary,  —  said  we  were 
cool,  brave,  drove  where  we  were  told  and 
showed ' '  an  elan  most  commendable,"  and 
so  forth;  and  finally  pinned  the  Croix  on 
Edwards's  car,  representing  the  Section. 

Co'py  of  Order  No.  78 
2me  ArmSe,  Direction  du  Service  de  Sante  du  Groupement  E. 

En  execution  des  prescriptions  reglemen- 
taires,  le  Directeur  du  Service  de  Sante  du 
6™^  Corps  d'Armee  cite  a  I'ordre  du  Service  de 
Sante  du  6™^  Corps  d'Armee  — 

La  Section  Sanitaire  Automobile 

Americaine  N°  1. 

Sous  la  direction  du  Lieutenant  Robert  de 

Kersauson   de  Pennendreff,  et  des  OfEciers 

Americains    Herbert    Townsend    et    Victor 


144    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

White,  la  Section  Sanitaire  Amerieaine  N°  1, 
composee  entierement  de  volontaires,  a  assure 
remarquablement  le  service  quotidien  des 
evacuations  en  allant  chercher  les  blesses  le 
plus  loin  possible,  malgre  un  bombardement 
parfois  violent.  S'est  particulierement  dis- 
tinguee  le  11  Juillet  1916,  en  traversant  a 
plusieurs  reprises  une  nappe  de  gaz  toxiques 
sous  un  feu  intense  sans  aucun  repit  pendant 
32  heures  pour  emmener  aux  Ambulances 
les  intoxiques. 

Le  Directeur  du  Service  de  SanU, 

J.  TOUBERT. 
Quartier  GSnSral  le  26  Juillet  1916. 

Sponagle  also  got  one  for  repairing  a 
car  under  heavy  fire.  He  is  our  head  me- 
chanician and  an  awfully  good  fellow. 
His  citation  was  signed  by  Joffre  himself. 
Brooke  also  received  his  Croix  and  got  a 
bully  citation  from  Nivelle.  Altogether  it 
was  a  gala  occasion.  The  Section's  "Croix" 
will  be  framed  with  the  "Citation"  and 
a  copy  given  to  each  of  us.  That  also 
comes  from  Nivelle. 

July  28.  For  some  reason  or  other  the 
boys  nicknamed  me  "The  Judge"  almost 
from  the  first  moment  I  joined  the  squad 


2"  Armee 

Croupement    E 
N"  78 


Au   Q.G.A.le  26  Juillet 

1016 


^O" Escadpon 
T.D.E.m. 

N^  1 


CUTATIIOT^  A  ]L'Omb>re 


I A  SECTION  SANITAIRE   AUTOMOBILE  AMERICAINE   N°I 


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EN  REPOS  145 

on  the  Somme.  Pete  Avard  was  the  first  to 
pick  the  name,  and  I  never  could  find  out 
why  except  that  I  tried  to  be  even-tem- 
pered and  pleasant  to  all  of  them  —  which 
is  hard  enough  at  times.  Pete  used  to  be 
in  the  Fourth  U.S.  Cavalry  —  "Gallop- 
ing I"  troop.  — We  are  still  in  the  Ar- 
gonne.  Of  the  new  men  Walker  and  Wal- 
lace are  exceptionally  good  fellows. 

There  is  going  to  be  a  big  celebration 
to-night.  "Very  Good  Eddy"  and  Brooke 
are  going  to  christen  their  Croix  and  that 
of  the  Section. 

July  29.  Tardieu  has  designed  an  In- 
dian head  as  the  "Convoi's"  emblem  for 
the  squad,  taking  his  lines  from  the  regu- 
lar Indian  on  the  $5  gold-piece.  This 
lends  a  real  "ton"  to  the  cars,  the  head 
being  stenciled  life-size  in  red,  black,  and 
white  on  the  sides,  and,  as  one  might  say, 
it  puts  Section  "One"  on  the  map. 

The  cobbler's  daughter  in  this  village 
(Triaucourt)  is  quite  pretty  and  intelli- 
gent. She  showed  us  the  hole  in  her  arm 
where  a  German  high  explosive  hit  her. 
It  killed  her  grandmother  beside  her,  dis- 


146    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

emboweling  her.  She  says  that  the  Ger- 
mans took  care  of  her,  however,  and  acted 
decently  enough,  except  that  they  set  fire 
to  a  group  of  stores  in  the  town  when  they 
left.  The  woods  hereabouts  are  dotted 
thick  with  graves,  German  and  French; 
hundreds  of  them.  They  are  about  a  year 
old. 

The  talk  now  is  that  another  big  offen- 
sive by  the  Allies  is  brewing  in  the  Cham- 
pagne. The  Russians  are  nearly  all  con- 
centrated there.  It  should  break  out 
pretty  soon,  if  there  is  anything  in  the 
reports  we  hear. 

I  saw  a  lot  of  the  French  troops  from 
Indo-China,  the  Anamites.  "Tirailleurs 
Tonquinois"  is  their  oflBcial  title.  They  are 
little  fellows  dressed  in  pale  yellow,  but 
wearing  the  dull  blue  casque.  It  was  a 
beautiful  sight  watching  the  long  yellow 
and  blue  worm,  winding  for  miles  along  the 
distant  road  in  the  hazy  sunlight.  We  have 
now  had  nearly  two  weeks  of  good  weather ; 
the  longest  period  of  the  sort  since  Meri- 
court.  A  farmer  tells  us  it  came  just  in  the 
nick  of  time  to  save  the  crops,  which  were 


EN  REPOS  147 

beginning  to  rot.  He  says  the  grape  and 
wine  crops  are  going  to  be  the  best  in  years, 
especially  in  Burgundy.  He  says  theCham- 
bertin  of  this  year  will  be  a  wonder  in  time. 

Beside  us  here  is  a  machine-gun  section 
—  air-cooled. 

July  30.  I  had  my  first  introduction  to 
soccer  football  last  evening.  We  played 
the  French  before  an  audience  of  a  couple 
of  thousand  soldiers.  They  licked  us  as 
usual,  3-2. 

Cunningham  and  I  had  a  long  walk  in 
the  woods  to-day.  He  tells  me  that  he  is 
"fed  up "  with  war  and  is  going  home.  He 
has  been  here  almost  since  the  beginning. 
He  says  one  of  the  most  depressing  things 
is  the  way  the  personnel  of  the  squad 
changes  every  few  months.  Just  as  all  get 
to  be  pretty  good  pals,  a  lot  have  to  go 
home  and  new  men  fill  their  places  who 
are  awkward  and  strange.  We  are  going 
through  that  process  already  and  it  will  be 
accentuated  next  month.  I'm  sorry  to 
lose  old  "Gymp,"  although  he's  terribly 
pig-headed  in  his  ways,  and  always  sees 
everything    in    the    most    dismal    light. 


148    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Vic  painted  a  whale  of  a  picture  of  him: 
the  head  in  a  deep  shadow  with  a  grouchy 
expression;  and  a  sunny,  cheerful  back- 
ground behind.  He  named  it  "Sunshine 
and  Shadow."    It  is  a  scream! 

I  have  been  struck  forcibly  with  the 
quiet,  restrained,  and  generally  dignified 
behavior  of  the  thousands  of  French  sol- 
diers camped  about  here.  They  wander 
through  the  handsome  Poincare  chateau 
grounds  and  never  disturb  or  injure  any- 
thing. Bottles  of  wine  left  to  cool  in  the 
spring  are  not  touched. 

July  31.  The  big  vaudeville  went  off 
with  great  eclat.  It  could  n't  have  been 
pulled  off  in  a  more  beautiful  or  suitable 
spot.  A  little  clearing  in  the  forest  with  a 
tiny  stage  flanked  with  French  flags,  and 
the  general  lighting  furnished  by  M. 
Rapp,  of  S.S.U.  No.  1:  all  the  acetylene 
lamps  we  had.  Jimmy  Sponagle  was  the 
only  one  of  us  that  could  produce  a  stunt, 
and  the  Frenchmen  in  the  kindness  and 
politeness  of  their  hearts  put  him  last. 
Of  course,  old  Sponny  did  the  best  he 
could,  considering  that  he  followed  some 


EN  REPOS  149 

of  the  greatest  comedians  and  singers  on 
the  professional  stage;  nevertheless,  I 
wished  for  Woody.  He  and  Sponny  could 
have  put  over  something  pretty  good. 
Then  they  asked  —  no,  really  begged,  us 
to  sing  "Tipperary."  Well,  we  sang  it,  of 
course.  Nobody  really  knew  it  and  it  was 
a  frost.  The  "  mise  en  scene  "  was  wonder- 
ful —  all  green  surroundings.  It  reminded 
me  of  Robin  Hood  stories  and  the  revel- 
ries in  Sherwood  Forest:  by  luck,  a  clear 
night  and  the  stars  thickly  spangled  over 
the  opening  in  the  woods.  The  trees  were 
filled  with  men  and  whenever  one  lighted 
a  cigarette  his  face  shone  through  the  fo- 
liage like  the  pumpkin  heads  at  Hallow- 
e'en. It  was  marvelous.  That  and  Trois 
Fontaines  stand  out  as  the  two  most 
beautiful,  peaceful  things  I  have  ever 
seen.  Of  course,  nothing  compared  with 
Verdun  at  night.  That,  like  the  Penseur 
before  the  Pantheon,  is  all  alone  in  its 
glory. 

We  have  a  lot  of  fun  evacuating  the  late 
sleepers.  Some  of  the  men  lie  in  bed  after 
eight  o'clock,  and  so  the  fellows  sneak 


150    AT  THE  FRONT   IN   A  FLIVVER 

up,  surround  their  cars,  and  quickly  grab 
the  stretchers,  pull  them  out,  and  dump 
them  on  the  grass.  Some  of  them  get  mad, 
and  then  there  is  a  rough-and-tumble 
fight.  One  time  at  Veel  they  started  my 
car  and  drove  me  all  around  the  country. 
To-day,  we  put  Francklyn  in  the  middle 
of  the  main  street,  and  the  village  girls 
had  a  great  time  kidding  him.  We  carried 
him  out  to  the  tune  of  the  *'  Dead  March'* 
from  "Saul!" 

August  1.  We  have  found  a  swimming- 
pool  at  last.  The  discovery  was  made  by 
Baylies  in  a  peculiar  way.  He  was  called 
out  to  get  a  man  who  had  been  drowned. 
We  could  n't  believe  it,  as  the  streams  all 
around  here  are  so  shallow,  but  he  was 
taken  to  a  little  dam  about  ten  minutes 
from  here  that  we  had  entirely  missed.  So 
henceforth  we  are  all  right. 

August  2.  I  got  a  shock  this  morning. 
I  awoke  to  find  my  face  had  turned  quite 
green.  I  thought  for  a  minute  gangrene 
or  something  had  set  in.  The  explanation 
came  quickly.  It  had  rained  a  little  in  the 
night  and  Mrs.  Charles  M.  Lea's  beau- 


EN  REPOS  151 

tiful  green  silk  pneumatic  pillow  had  got 
a  trifle  damp  —  that  pillow,  hitherto,  has 
been  a  joy! 

I  had  to  laugh  at  Imbrie.  Like  Cunning- 
ham he 's  always  growling  and  kicking  and 
calling  this  a  h — 1  of  a  life.  Just  before  I 
went  to  Paris  he  said  his  time  would  be 
up  the  1st  of  August  and  he  was  "fed  up'* 
and  going  to  quit  and  go  back  —  and  all 
that.  Well,  I  asked  him  to-day  what  boat 
he  was  sailing  on,  and  he  grinned  sheep- 
ishly and  said  that  he  'd  just  signed  up  for 
another  three  months !  As  a  matter  of  fact 
he  loves  it.  All  his  life  has  been  spent 
traveling  around  the  globe,  including  a 
long  stay  hunting  in  Africa,  and  he  could 
no  more  leave  this  than  fly. 

We  had  a  scream  of  a  cross-country 
hare-and-houndsrun  this  evening.  "  Huts  '* 
Townsend,  as  Section  Chief,  opened  cham- 
pagne at  dinner  in  honor  of  the  "Cita- 
tion." There  was  one  bottle  extra  and 
much  argument  arose  between  the  two 
tables  as  to  which  should  have  it.  Culbert- 
son  went  over  and  grabbed  it  and  they  all 
fell  upon  him.    Finally  Roche  got  away 


152    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

with  it  and  supported  by  a  couple  of  others 
ran  off.  After  a  Httle  interval  we  all  de- 
cided to  hunt  for  them  and  there  ensued 
a  regular  chase  across  country.  We  must 
have  covered  several  miles.  But  they  were 
foxy.  They  hid  the  bottle  and  then  led  us 
a  long  run.  Then  they  sneaked  back  and 
drank  it  up,  while  we  were  still  hunting  in 
the  woods.  The  Frenchmen  thought  we 
were  all  "nutty,"  but  we  explained  it  was 
a  regular  American  game! 

*'Huts"  heard  from  our  old  Division, 
the  Third  Colonials.  It  appears  General 
Gaddel  lost  his  hand  in  the  attack  on  the 
Somme:  and  poor  little  Abbe  Souri,  the 
chaplain,  is  not  expected  to  live. 

August  5.  I  hear  that  W.  M.  Barber,  of 
Toledo,  Ohio,  the  Section  3  man  who  was 
shot  in  the  stomach,  is  out  and  around 
again :  quite  a  resurrection.  He  completely 
fooled  the  French  authorities  who  gave 
him  the  Medaille  Militaire,  in  addition  to 
the  Croix  de  Guerre,  which  is  generally 
considered  as  about  guaranteeing  the 
*' Croix  de  bois."  Now  he's  going  back  to 
the  Front  again. 


EN  REPOS  153 

I  had  a  nasty  nightmare  last  night.  I 
dreamed  I  was  dressing  to  go  to  a  formal 
dinner-party  at  home.  It  certainly  was  a 
relief  to  wake  up  here. 

They  put  a  large  yellow  flea-bitten  mon- 
grel dog  and  a  live  chicken  in  Bowman's 
"bus"  where  he  was  sleeping  last  night. 
There  was  a  jolly  riot,  as  may  be  imag- 
ined. 

August  7.  I  broke  a  ligament  in  my 
leg  playing  ball.  Rough  luck!  Will  be  out 
of  business  for  about  a  week,  I  suppose,  if 
it 's  anything  like  as  bad  as  the  last  time. 
I  can't  walk  at  present.  Lucky  we  are 
still  **en  repos,"  so  somebody  can  take 
my  runs  for  me  temporarily. 

Mrs.  W.  K.  Vanderbilt  came  up  to  see 
us  last  night  with  the  Due  de  Clermont- 
Tonnerre  and  Andrew.  She  gave  us  all 
cigarettes.  Their  car  had  a  close  call  near 
Ppnt-a-Mousson  when  a  shell  exploded 
close  to  them. 

We  moved  this  afternoon  to  a  new  camp: 
only  about  ten  kilometers.  Vaulecourt  is 
the  town  nearest  us.  The  place  is  par- 
tially   wrecked;    the    church    destroyed. 


154    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

The  bells,  by  the  way,  were  presented  by 
an  ancestor  of  Clermont-Tonnerre.  It  is 
a  pretty  spot  in  the  woods.  There  is  a  little 
thatched  hut  where  a  peasant  and  his 
daughters  live.  They  have  a  pet  pig,  and 
the  oldest  daughter  is  a  most  self-pos- 
sessed young  woman,  considering  her  age, 
about  fifteen.  She  is  n't  a  bit  rattled  at  the 
jollying  we  give  her. 

Andrew  told  us  that  the  Field  Depart- 
ment of  the  American  Ambulance  was 
now  officially  separated  from  the  Paris 
Hospital  and  had  secured  new  quarters 
near  the  Trocadero  —  21  Rue  Raynouard. 

August  8.  We  went  wild-boar  hunting 
last  night.  Nothing  doing.  They  say  they 
are  quite  thick  around  here;  also  deer,  but 
they  are  protected.  I  saw  two  young  boars 
a  farmer  caught,  —  pretty  little  animals, 
very  fast  on  their  feet.  A  fine  stream  to 
wash  clothes  in  is  the  Aisne,  but  hardly 
deep  enough  for  swimming  around  here. 
However,  we  wade  out  and  duck  under. 
I  took  a  "malade"  over  to  Revigny  and 
a  couple  of  big  boars  came  between  the 
road  and  the  railway  as  we  got  there. 


EN  REPOS  155 

I  stopped  in  the  main  cafe  and  found 
**Winny"  O'Connor  and  *'Doc"  Ryan's 
names  carved  on  one  of  the  tables,  dated 
1915.  Section  4  used  to  be  up  there.  The 
town  is  badly  shot  up;  in  fact  all  the  towns 
hereabout  are  half -ruins.  The  little  peas- 
ant girl  says  her  father  used  to  own  a  farm 
here,  but  it  was  burned  down.  The  French 
had  to  bombard  the  place,  as  the  Germans 
were  in  these  woods.  In  fact  one  of  their 
old  trenches  runs  right  beside  our  canton- 
ment. 

The  little  peasant  girls  are  remarkably 
strong  for  their  age;  they  can  lift  big  logs, 
hoe  the  fields,  and  do  men's  work;  but  are 
terribly  dirty.  It  is  rather  pathetic.  When 
we  started  to  jolly  the  older  one,  she 
went  into  the  hut  and  in  a  few  minutes 
came  out  in  a  different  calico  smock:  her 
best,  I  suppose,  and  she  had  done  up  her 
hair;  but  her  hands  and  face  were  as  dirty 
as  ever.  She  has  a  sense  of  humor,  though. 
She  came  out  this  morning  with  two  po- 
tato hoes  and  a  basket.  Edwards  promptly 
rushed  forward  and  asked  if  he  might  go 
over  and  dig  the  potatoes.  So  she  gravely 


156    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

thanked  him,  handed  him  the  basket,  and 
the  hoes,  and  said,  "Go  ahead;  I  will  sit 
here  and  talk  to  these  gentlemen."  Of 
course,  we  all  cheered  and  Edwards  was 
much  crestfallen.  Then  Culbertson,  who 
stands  six  feet,  offered  to  carry  a  basket  of 
beans  for  her,  and  she  looked  at  him  a  mo- 
ment, then  shook  her  head;  "Non,  non, 
pauvre  petit  Americain,  j'ai  peur  que  ga 
ne  te  fasse  du  mal."  And  all  this  from  an 
imp  of  fifteen,  brought  up  in  a  hovel  in 
the  back  woods!  "Vic,"  the  club  dog,  is 
utterly  nonplussed  at  the  tame  pig,  which 
is  just  about  his  size.  It  is  a  scream  to  see 
them  together.  They  call  the  pig  "Guil- 
laume  II." 

August  10.  "Duffy,"  Phil  and  Lew  left 
for  home  and  fair  Harvard  to-day.  We 
went  through  the  customary  burying  pro- 
cession to  the  tune  of  the  "  Dead  March  " 
from  "  Saul."  Every  one  was  really  sorry. 

Wild-boar  hunting  still  goes  on  these 
moonlight  nights,  but  Lathrop  is  the  only 
one  who  has  had  a  shot,  and  as  he  only 
had  a  revolver,  he  missed.  There  are 
plenty  around.  The  place  is  full  of  tracks 


EN  REPOS  157 

and  several  have  caught  glimpses  of  them  in 
the  distance.  Lathrop's  method  is  rather 
unique.  He  fills  his  pockets  with  rocks, 
and  when  he  hears  the  boars  in  the  long 
grass,  stirs  them  up  by  chucking  stones  at 
them,  and  then,  when  they  break  cover,  he 
lets  go  at  them  with  the  old  revolver. 

August  12.  Still  loafing.  All  there  is 
to  do  is  read,  eat,  sleep,  and  swim  and 
watch  the  French  troops  drilling.  I  saw 
an  interesting  lesson  in  trench  "cleaning  '* 
yesterday.  All  the  troops  are  now  being 
taught  the  gentle  art  of  bomb  and  hand- 
grenade  throwing.  The  method  of  advance 
up  an  enemy  trench  was  most  interesting. 
First  two  men  armed  with  rifles  and  bayo- 
nets, each  keeping  one  length  of  trench 
apart,  move  forward,  so  that  both  won't 
be  killed  by  the  same  shot.  They  aie  the 
scouts.  They  signal  the  first  bomb-thrower, 
two  sections  back,  by  means  of  pebbles,  as 
of  course,  in  battle,  no  voice  or  whistles  can 
be  heard.  The  first  bomb-thrower  and  his 
orderly,  who  carries  the  basket,  are  con- 
nected with  the  second  bomb-thrower  and 
his  assistant  by  a  messenger.   The  second 


158    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

bomb-thrower,  however,  is  two  trench 
sections  back,  and  is  picked  for  a  long-dis- 
tance thrower.  He  throws  over  the  heads 
of  the  others.  After  it  is  seen  that  three  or 
four  grenades  have  landed  in  the  trench, 
the  scouts  advance  again  and  signal  back 
as  before,  and  everybody  moves  up,  includ- 
ing the  reserves,  who  lie  back  two  or  three 
sections  and  also  are  connected  by  a  mes- 
senger. It  takes  quite  a  while  to  clean  up 
even  a  half-mile  of  trench  —  some  two  or 
three  hours.  They  throw  with  a  curious, 
overhand,  tossing  motion  almost  like  bowl- 
ing a  cricket  ball.  The  ordinary  baseball 
throw  is  impracticable,  as  the  arm  and 
shoulder  would  have  to  come  above  the 
trench. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   BATTLE   FOR   FLEURY 

Aliens,  enfants  de  nos  allies, 
Les  jours  de  gloire  sont  arrives. 

Man  that  makes  new  chaos  out  of  fire  and  rending  steel  and 

masters  and  emerges  from  it,  .  .  . 
Finds  new  forms  of  life  that  live  and  freely  move  across  this 

powder  pitted  wilderness  of  torment. 

John  Curtis  TJnderviood 

August  15.  At  last!  We  move  to-day: 
just  about  time.  We  go  to  Landrecourt 
near  Verdun;  a  little  to  the  west  of  Dugny, 
where  we  were  stationed  before.  We  either 
do  the  Mort  Homme  or  Bras-Souville 
work,  they  say,  but  we  won't  know  for 
certain  till  we  get  there.  Little  Helene  of- 
fered to  do  my  laundry  yesterday.  I  was 
quite  surprised  as  she  is  n't  much  that  sort. 
She  did  it  very  well,  too.  She  had  no  soap, 
so  I  gave  her  a  piece  and  she  would  n't 
accept  any  pay;  said  she'd  keep  the  soap. 
I  told  her  not  to  use  it  as  a  souvenir,  but 
for  what  it  was  made  for,  at  which  she  got 
sore.     Considering  that  her  father  beats 


160    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

her  if  she  talks  to  us,  she  ran  a  big  chance 
doing  my  clothes,  and  it  was  certainly 
sporting  of  her.  Her  old  man  knows  he 
can't  lick  us,  so  he  beats  her  instead,  and  it 
naturally  keeps  us  from  chatting  with  her 
except  when  he  is  away.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  not  a  man  in  the  squad  would  even 
think  of  doing  her  any  harm. 

August  16.  I  could  find  no  good  place  to 
camp  at  Landrecourt,  so  came  on  past  to 
a  beautiful  old  farm-chateau  called  Bille- 
mont  right  outside  Verdun.  Great,  big, 
beautiful  place  with  fountains,  splendid 
gardens,  and  park.  The  only  reason  it 
was  empty  was  that  the  oflBcers  of  the 
"Genie,"  who  occupied  it  until  a  week 
ago,  got  shelled  out.  The  place  itself 
was  hit  only  three  or  four  times,  but  a 
good  many  shells  landed  all  around  the 
house,  showing  the  Boches  had  the  range. 
When  the  "Genie"  moved  out,  the  shell- 
ing ceased.  Now  we  can  test  the  oft- 
mooted  question  whether  the  Germans 
shell  ambulances  on  purpose.  Personally, 
I  have  always  held  that  they  do  not;  but 
that,  if  an  ambulance  happens  to  be  in 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       161 

the  way  or  in  line  with  something  they 
are  after,  they  don't  pay  any  attention 
to  it  one  way  or  the  other,  —  hence  the 
many  stories  from  rattled  drivers  that 
they  personally  were  being  shot  at.  The 
price  of  shells  is  too  high. 

Of  course  we  only  enter  or  leave  the 
place  at  two-minute  intervals  and  are 
careful  not  to  stand  in  groups.  Also  we  do 
not  open  the  shutters,  and  we  screen  the 
windows  with  blankets  at  night.  We  are 
not  only  in  plain  sight  of  the  Boche  "sau- 
cisses,"  but  also  from  Fort  Douaumont 
which  they  hold.  The  cars  are  scattered 
all  over,  —  under  bushes  so  that  not  only 
they  won't  attract  attention,  but  also,  if 
a  shell  does  come  in,  only  one  or  two  will 
be  smashed  at  a  time. 

Paul  Kurtz,  of  Philadelphia,  joined  the 
Section  to-day.  He  used  to  be  with  it  up 
at  Dunkerque,  but  went  back  to  America 
last  winter  and  has  only  just  returned. 

The  last  people  here  certainly  fled  in  a 
hurry.  Contents  of  closets  and  drawers 
are  scattered  all  over  the  place;  every- 
thing is  topsy-turvy.   Some  of  the  closets 


162    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

have  been  nailed  up.  Probably  books  and 
other  articles  of  value  are  in  them.  The 
owner,  whoever  he  was,  must  have  been 
quite  a  faddist  besides  being  an  up-to-date 
farmer.  He  has  all  the  latest  implements 
and  quite  a  chemical  laboratory.  He  was 
also  apparently  interested  in  electricity 
and  hypnotism,  judging  from  his  pam- 
phlets and  books.  The  caretaker  says  he 
was  arrested  as  a  German  spy.  It  appears 
that  a  German  company  owns  the  land 
and  quarry  across  the  road.  To  allay  sus- 
picion they  placed  a  number  of  French- 
men on  the  directorate,  and  also  had  a 
French  overseer  who  lived  in  this  chateau. 
The  company  went  into  receivership  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  but  suspicion  did 
not  attach  to  it  until  the  receivers  began 
to  investigate.  Oddly  enough,  the  place 
was  n't  shelled  until  the  overseer,  who  still 
lived  in  the  chateau,  was  removed  a  few 
months  ago.  Then,  when  the  *' Genie" 
Staff  moved  in,  the  shelling  soon  followed. 
For  some  time  since  the  place  has  been 
vacant  and,  as  we  eased  in  very  carefully, 
we  hope  to  get  away  with  it. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       163 

August  18.  Off  on  twenty-four-hour 
*'poste"  duty  with  Lathrop,  at  a  sad 
dump  near  Souilly,  named  Hopital  Fon- 
taine de  Bouton.  We  stay  here  and  have  a 
run  of  less  than  a  half-mile  taking  treated 
*' blesses"  to  the  train.  The  worst  of  it  is 
that  they  keep  us  going  at  short  intervals 
all  night. 

August  19.  Heavy  shelling  and  some 
sort  of  an  attack  last  night  on  Thiaumont, 
so  we  were  kept  busy.  Many  Boche  pris- 
oners are  here  working  on  the  hospital 
grounds.  They  are  a  healthy-looking  lot. 
Their  own  officers  are  allowed  to  command 
them  and  they  are  very  well  treated.  One 
of  them  with  spectacles,  who  is  an  electri- 
cian by  trade,  told  me  that  on  the  whole 
he  would  rather  be  on  this  side  of  the  line 
than  the  other,  but  when  I  asked  him  for 
details,  he  shut  up.  I  told  a  German 
"blesse"  whom  I  carried  what  his  com- 
patriot said,  and  he  nodded  his  head,  agree- 
ing; but  he  asserted  that  they  would  take 
Verdun  if  they  never  did  another  thing.  It 
looks  just  now  as  if  they  were  going  to  do 
it.  Another  violent  attack  (counter)  is  on. 


164    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

The  French  got  one  half  of  Fleury,  up  to 
the  church,  last  night.  The  Germans  are 
counter-attacking  now.  The  fighting  is  go- 
ing on  in  cellars  and  what's  left  of  houses: 
the  rottenest  kind  of  work.  One  some- 
times does  n't  know  for  a  day  or  two 
whether  the  town  is  captured  or  not.  Some 
of  the  Boche  "blesses,"  who  have  been 
coming  in  during  the  last  few  hours,  can't 
be  more  than  sixteen  or  seventeen.  We 
worked  hard  all  night.  The  hospitals  all 
around  are  jammed  and  men  are  lying 
even  outdoors. 

I  had  a  curious  experience.  A  Harjes 
car  came  up,  and  in  the  dim  light  of  a 
smoky  lantern  a  familiar  face  appeared. 
I  stared  at  it  for  a  moment  and  then  a 
muffled  figure  remarked,  *'Is  n't  your 
name  Stevenson?"  It  was  Charley  Clark, 
of  Philadelphia !  ^  I  had  n't  seen  him  for 
ten  years.  It  appears  he  lived  in  Chicago 
for  a  while  and  then  moved  to  Boston. 
He  came  over  to  France  in  May  and 

*  Charles  Motley  Clark,  of  Philadelphia,  son  of  the 
late  Clarence  H.  Clark.  His  mother  was  Miss  Motley,  of 
Boston,  niece  of  the  historiaji. 


THE  BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       165 

joined  Harjes.  We  chatted  for  quite  a 
while.  He  is  at  Dugny  doing  evacuating 
work. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  get  any  real 
account  of  how  the  fights  go  from  the 
"blesses";  each  has  his  own  particular 
little  local  in  mind,  and  also  much  de- 
pends upon  the  time  when  the  individual 
was  wounded.  One  Senegalese,  for  in- 
stance, claimed  all  the  officers  had  run 
away  when  the  word  came  to  charge. 
Another  man  later  told  me  they  were  all 
killed.  Some  say  they  advanced  a  consid- 
erable distance;  but  most  of  the  wounded 
are  pessimistic.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
many  German  prisoners,  both  wounded 
and  unwounded,  were  taken,  and  that  usu- 
ally indicates  a  victory. 

August  20.  We  started  in  the  new  Sou- 
ville  "poste"  service,  called  Caserne  Mar- 
ceau.  We  handled  the  men  fighting  for 
Fleury.  The  village  has  changed  hands 
almost  daily  during  the  past  week.  Three 
cars  were  on  duty  twenty -four  hours. 
Some  fight !  When  I  got  up  there,  the  first 
thing  I  saw  was  a  wrecked  car  and  four 


166    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

bodies  lined  up  beside  it,  —  three  of  them 
Lieutenants.  The  Caserne  Marceau  is 
absolutely  shot  to  pieces.  The  doctors  live 
in  deep  dug-outs.  The  road  is  simply 
pockmarked  with  shell  holes.  I  picked  up 
a  dozen  fusees  just  walking  about  near  by. 

The  English  Section  we  are  relieving 
has  had  three  cars  wrecked  and  several 
men  wounded.  Thank  Heaven,  we  have 
*'shed"  at  last  the  other  little  dinky  ser- 
vice of  the  past  three  or  four  days.  We 
drive  from  Chateau  Billemont,  through 
Verdun,  and  then  up  toward  Souville,  much 
closer  to  the  lines  even  than  at  Tavannes. 
Squad  A  (Nos.  1  to  10)  started  in  at  noon 
and  worked  till  8  p.m. 

A  counter-attack  (German)  on  Fleury 
started  around  5  p.m.  We  had  hardly 
got  to  bed  after  dinner  when  we  were 
all  called  out  again.  Squad  B  had  been 
hoodooed  from  the  start  and  we  had  to 
help  out.  Roche,  White,  Lathrop,  and  I 
had  not  had  any  sleep  for  two  nights. 
Wilson  we  found,  down  with  a  broken 
axle  in  a  big  "380"  marmite  hole  right  in 
the  road,  new  since  he  had  gone  up  to  the 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       167 

"poste."  Baylies  was  broken  down  in 
Verdun  town  with  tire  trouble.  Jones  got 
lost  and  landed  in  a  muddy  ravine  which 
enjoys  the  cheerful  title  of  "Le  Ravin  de 
la  Mort"  (it  was  pouring  rain),  and  he 
could  n't  get  out.  Some  of  the  others  also 
got  temporarily  lost  or  had  tire  trouble. 
No  wonder  Squad  A  had  to  go  in.  We  got 
through  about  4  a.m.  The  Landrecourt 
Hospital  was  filled  up  quickly,  and  we  had 
to  take  our  last  few  loads  away  back  to  the 
Fontaine-Bouton  Hospital.  The  machine- 
gun  division  of  the  143d  was  practically 
wiped  out.  We  carried  several  of  the  men 
with  whom  we  played  football  at  Triau- 
court,  poor  fellows !  One  man  said  all  the 
officers  had  been  killed,  and  that  just  ordi- 
nary soldiers  took  command.  As  I  said 
above,  we  saw  three  of  the  dead  Lieuten- 
ants at  our  *'poste." 

The  ground  over  which  the  men  fight 
is  simply  indescribable,  —  nothing  but 
twisted  and  splintered  stumps  of  trees  (the 
place  around  here  was  formerly  a  wood). 
The  ground  looks  as  though  a  huge 
plough  had  furrowed  and  turned  it  over. 


168    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Empty  shells  everywhere,  arms  and  accou- 
terments  of  all  sorts  strewing  the  land,  un- 
exploded  grenades,  and  fusees  that  threat- 
en one  every  step.  Bastions  of  bags  and 
bits  of  trenches,  hastily  made,  connect  up  a 
few  of  the  larger  and  most  useful  shell  holes 
—  dismounted  "75's,"  bloody  rags  and 
clothes,  mouldy  food  and  half -empty  tins. 
And  the  most  pathetic  of  all,  numberless 
graves  simply  made  by  covering  up  a  body 
in  a  shell  hole,  with  a  bit  of  wood  stuck  in 
it,  or  a  bottle  with  the  man's  number  on 
it.  These,  in  turn,  have  been  blown  up 
again  and  again.  Over  all  prevailed  a  smell 
of  rotting  flesh  and  the  acrid,  damp  odor 
of  burned  clothes  and  wood,  such  as  one 
gets  after  a  city  fire  when  the  ruins  have 
been  soaked  in  water.  Not  a  sign  of  life 
except  the  myriads  of  gnats  and  flies  which 
darken  the  air  when  disturbed,  and  the 
rats  that  scurry  from  under  one's  feet. 

One  of  the  *' Genie"  told  us  that  the  job 
of  trench-digging  through  this  land  fought 
over  for  two  years  is  about  the  most  hor- 
rible imaginable,  as  they  constantly  have  to 
dig  through  rotting  bodies  which  render  the 


^THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       169 

trench,  once  dug,  almost  uninhabitable. 
And  steadily,  at  almost  regular  intervals, 
the  shells  come  whistling  in,  bursting  with 
a  frightful  crash,  only  once  more  to  hurl 
skyward  the  whole  dreadful  rotting  mass 
of  filth  that  was  once  the  Bois  Chapitre 
and  the  Froide-Terre. 

August  21.  We  have  worked  three 
days  and  nights  without  any  sleep  except 
naps  snatched  in  the  cars  or  "postes.'* 
Several  of  the  fellows  have  had  pretty  close 
calls.  Rice  got  his  initiation  with  a  venge- 
ance on  his  first  time  out,  when  a*' 150'* 
dropped  in  the  road  within  a  few  feet  of 
him  while  he  was  loading  "blesses." 
Walker  got  spattered  with  mud  by  an- 
other which  fell  beside  the  road. 

There  was  the  usual  comic  scene  with 
Baylies.  Bowman  was  coming  down  the 
road  when  he  found  it  blocked  by  a  mass 
of  dead  and  wounded  horses  and  men  all 
tangled  up  with  harness  and  wagons,  and 
beside  them  one  of  our  cars.  It  turned  out 
to  be  Baylies,  who  came  running  up  to 
Bowman,  exclaiming,  "There's  been  an 
awful  mess.  Bob!"  and  Bowman  perfectly 


170    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

unthinkingly  ejaculated,  "Good  Lord, 
what  have  you  done  now,  Baylies?" 
Baylies  was  as  sore  as  two  sticks  and 
growled,  "Ah,  where 'd  you  get  that  stuff?  " 
His  conventional  answer  to  all  gibes.  The 
word  "to  Baylies"  (French  "Bayliser") 
has  been  standardized  in  Section  1  and  is 
even  spreading  to  the  other  Sections. 

The  thing  that  gets  on  one's  nerves  in 
this  service  is  watching  the  shells  burst 
along  the  road  ahead,  while  one  is  loading, 
and  knowing  that  one  will  have  to  pass 
right  there  in  a  minute  or  two.  Once  on 
the  way,  the  road  is  so  steep  and  bad 
that  it  requires  all  one's  attention,  and 
the  bursting  marmites  don't  loom  so  large. 
Souville  is  certainly  the  home  of  the  sou- 
venir hunter.  If  we  could  ever  carry  away 
all  that  we  collect,  the  steamer  would  be 
laden  down  to  the  gunwales.  Ned  Town- 
send  evidently  thinks  he  can  move  half  the 
remains  of  the  battle  with  him,  —  at  least 
he  goes  about  collecting  as  if  he  expected 
to  have  a  "camion"  of  the  largest  size 
to  cart  his  things  down  to  Paris  for  him. 

August  22.  Our  greatest  difficulty  is  to 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       171 

snatch  a  chance  to  sleep.  I  have  run  every 
night  since  we've  been  here  so  far,  and  I 
snatch  naps  at  the  "poste"  or  in  Verdun 
where  we  have  established  a  secondary 
headquarters  in  the  big  military  clubhouse, 
now  deserted  and  partially  wrecked.  Five 
cars  got  to  the  caserne,  ten  are  lined  up  by 
the  river  in  the  town  of  Verdun,  and  five 
remain  "en  repos."  So  five  men  get  one 
night's  sleep  in  three.  I  take  my  hat  off 
to  Roche.  He  can  curl  up  anywhere  and 
sleep  peacefully.  Last  night  he  got  a  very 
bloody  "  brancard,"  laid  it  under  the  bench 
where  the  "  blesses  "  sit  awaiting  their  turn 
to  be  patched  up,  and  was  sound  asleep 
for  four  hours,  while  the  Boches  dropped 
"220"marmites  around  the  "poste,"  and 
the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  chatter  of 
the  doctors  and  "  brancardiers "  kept  up 
a  continual  disturbance.  I've  given  up 
trying  to  sleep  in  the  "abris"  and  take  a 
chance  in  the  car  outside.  At  least  it  is 
cool,  and  the  air  is  foul  only  with  the  odor 
of  burned  wood  and  rotting  flesh.  In  the 
daytime  we  have  less  to  do  and  only  oper- 
ate five  cars  except  in  cases  of  emergency. 


172    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

To  date  we  still  hold  Fleury  despite  re- 
peated German  counter-attacks  —  eight 
took  place  on  the  night  before  last,  and 
three  last  night. 

There  are  some  curious  sights  in  Ver- 
dun. The  gendarmes  are  everywhere  and 
have  prevented  all  looting,  so  one  peers 
through  shell  holes  into  placid-looking  in- 
teriors —  some  with  the  table  set  for  din- 
ner; others,  sitting-rooms  with  all  the  fur- 
niture left,  just  as  when  the  owners  fled 
from  the  town.  In  one,  you  see  that  the 
shell  burst  right  on  a  rosewood  piano  and 
the  rest  of  the  room  is  not  much  disturbed. 
In  another,  there  is  a  bully  library,  the 
side  of  which  is  torn  out,  but  rows  on  rows 
of  handsomely  bound  books  are  left  un- 
touched, neatly  arranged  on  their  shelves, 
and  a  table  on  which  are  writing  materials, 
papers,  and  the  rest. 

August  23.  Some  of  the  men  we  carry 
certainly  have  had  weird  experiences.  Cul- 
bertson  had  "blesses"  who  told  him  that, 
at  one  time  during  the  fight  around  Fleury, 
the  French  batteries  were  firing  a  trifle 
short  and  were  landing  on  their  own  men. 


THE   BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       173 

A  big  "155"  hit  just  back  of  this  fellow, 
went  deep  in  the  mud,  and  then  exploded. 
It  blew  him  ten  feet  in  the  air;  and,  while 
he  was  up,  a  Boche  mitrailleuse  got  him 
"on  the  wing,"  so  to  speak.  He  was  as 
sore  as  a  crab,  as  he  figured  he  would  n't 
have  been  touched  if  it  had  not  been  for 
his  own  guns  blowing  him  out  into  the  open 
like  the  ball  in  the  fountain  at  a  shoot- 
ing gallery!  Two  men  were  killed  at  our 
"poste"  to-day  and  one  wounded. 

To-night,  as  we  sit  here  waiting  our  turns 
to  roll,  the  *'big  marmites"  are  dropping 
all  around  us  and  the  "poste  "  is  rocked  by 
the  explosions.  It  is  not  as  good  as  the  one 
at  Cappy,  being  above  ground.  It  is  made 
of  big  arched  metal  sections  set  in  the  side 
of  the  hill,  and  sandbags  and  logs  piled 
above  it.  The  theory  of  the  logs  is  to  cause 
the  shell  to  explode  before  it  penetrates. 
The  ends  are  also  protected  by  sandbags. 
The  Staff  "abri"  is  thirty  feet  under 
ground  and  practically  safe  except  from 
being  completely  blocked  —  which  occurs 
occasionally.  The  latest  figures  regarding 
the  143d  show  only  247  men  left  unin- 


174    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

jured  out  of  2000!  —  and  they  were  in  the 
front  line  just  three  days. 

A  little  added  touch  to  the  general  diflS- 
culties  was  a  nice,  heavy  fog  that  we  had 
last  night.  One  could  n't  see  more  than 
ten  or  fifteen  yards  ahead,  but  luckily 
there  was  n't  any  great  rush  of  work,  so 
each  of  us  made  only  two  or  three  runs. 
I  carried  a  "poilu"  who  had  been  in  the 
Fleury  bickering,  and  who  complained 
that  the  shell  holes  and  attempts  at 
trenches  were  continually  being  filled  up 
by  the  dirt  tumbling  in  as  the  ground 
got  shaken  by  new  explosions,  so  that 
when  one  thought  one  had  a  three-  or 
four-foot  hole  to  hide  in,  it  gradually 
would  work  up  shallower  and  shallower 
until  one  had  to  beat  it  to  a  fresh  hole. 

Our  club  at  Verdun  is  certainly  a  snappy 
place :  a  big  four-story  building  filled  with 
banquet-halls,  card-rooms,  a  billiard-room, 
and  a  fencing-hall;  fully  as  large  as  the 
Racquet  Club  at  home.  The  only  trouble 
with  it  is  that  the  roof  has  been  blown  off, 
and  many  of  the  rooms  have  been  wrecked 
by  high  explosives  which  came  in  from  two 


THE   BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       175 

sides  —  over  the  Meuse  from  the  direction 
of  the  Mort  Homme  and  directly  back 
from  Douaumont  and  Vaux.  However, 
the  lower  floor  is  in  pretty  good  condi- 
tion, and  we  use  the  fencing-hall.  Spo- 
nagle  went  to  Bar-le-Duc  to-day  with 
"Huts"  to  see  the  aviators  of  the  Ameri- 
can Squad  drill,  and  came  back  by  aero- 
plane. Norman  Prince  just  dropped  in 
with  him,  as  it  were! 

August  24.  Last  night.  Squad  A  was  to 
get  its  first  full  night's  sleep  in  five  days, 
but  we  got  fooled.  The  French  attacked 
at  5  P.M.  and  the  entire  Section  was  called 
out.  Sponagle  had  to  take  the  place  of  one 
of  the  new  men.  The  latter  had  gone  to 
pieces  under  the  strain,  and  was  given 
veronal  and  ordered  by  "Huts"  to  rest. 
Being  a  new  man  he  could  hardly  be 
blamed,  so  nobody  thinks  any  the  worse 
of  him.  He  should  be  all  right  again 
after  twenty-four  hours'  rest. 

The  Germans  began  throwing  real 
"380's"  into  Belleray  in  the  afternoon  — 
nothing  unreal  about  those!  They  were 
trying  for  the  canal.    Some  of  us  walked 


176    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

over  and  took  some  pictures.  The  reserve 
cars  went  out  at  dusk  and  we  headed  down 
to  our  club.  The  Boches  were  trying  for 
a  "270"  battery  concealed  near  the  river 
just  at  the  edge  of  the  town,  and  the  shells 
came  whistling  over  us,  landing  in  and 
along  the  river.  The  reverberations  and 
echoes  caused  by  the  houses  on  either  side 
amplified  the  explosions  until  the  whole 
valley  seemed  to  be  in  one  continuous 
roar.  Some  day  a  musician  will  set  those 
rising  and  falling,  ever-changing  cadenzas 
to  a  great  song,  the  "Song  of  the  Guns." 
They  ring  in  rhythm  like  chimes,  louder 
and  fainter,  as  the  ebb  and  flow  of  sound 
goes  up  and  down  the  river. 

Around  midnight,  word  came  that  the 
attack  had  been  successful  and  eight  hun- 
dred yards  gained  to  the  west  of  Fleury  in 
the  Froide-Terre;  also  that  three  counter- 
attacks had  been  repulsed.  The  reserve 
cars  had  to  make  only  one  trip  each,  as  the 
casualties  were  remarkably  light,  consider- 
ing. The  342d  and  the  17th  did  the  trick, 
taking  a  couple  of  hundred  prisoners.  They 
had  previously  relieved  a  regiment  that 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY  ^    177 

got  all  cut  up  because  the  men  failed  to 
carry  their  charge  home.  They  hesitated 
right  in  the  open  and  were  practically  anni- 
hilated, of  course. 

Francklyn  and  Walker  had  a  close  call : 
they  were  sitting  in  front  of  the  dug-out 
reading  a  paper,  when  a  "105"  high  ex- 
plosive hit  a  tree  not  five  yards  from 
them.  Pieces  of  the  shell  smashed  into 
Francklyn's  car  and  a  shower  of  stones 
knocked  the  paper  out  of  Walker's  hand 
and  both  men  were  thrown  to  the  ground. 
Walker  says  all  he  remembers  was  that 
some  one  seemed  to  snatch  his  paper  away 
and  knock  him  down  at  the  same  time, 
and  he  found  himself  crawling  under  his 
car,  while  Gyles  made  one  long  slide  for 
the  dug-out  entrance. 

August  25.  They  threw  the  hook  into 
our  batteries  all  day  yesterday,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  "brethren"  nearly  got  done 
for.  "Huts"  and  I  were  standing  out- 
side the"poste,"  when  a  "130"  Austrian 
dropped  right  back  of  it  and  blew  earth 
and  "eclats"  all  around.  Also,  several 
have  fallen  on  the  road,  which  is  very  an- 


178    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

noying  when  driving  at  night,  thinking 
one  knows  all  its  various  convolutions  and 
corrugations,  and  jBnding  they  have  been 
quite  altered  since  the  last  time  one  ran 
over  it.  We  stopped  and  filled  up  a  couple 
of  fresh  ones  that  were  really  too  deep  to 
leave.  From  all  the  shelling  we  supposed 
there  would  be  an  attack;  but  nothing  hap- 
pened, and  our  squad,  which  was  "first 
reserve,"  slept  in  the  club  at  Verdun  peace- 
fully, lulled  to  sleep  by  the  rhythmic  boom 
of  the  guns.  Squad  A2  still  has  to  get  its 
first  night's  sleep  in  our  own  chateau,  how- 
ever. To-night  we  are  on  duty  at  the 
"poste"  again.  A  French  aeroplane  was 
brought  down  by  three  Boches  to-day. 
It  fell  in  a  field  near  our  "poste."  The 
German  machines  swooped  down  from 
behind  and  fairly  riddled  the  Frenchman, 
who  managed  none  the  less  to  navigate 
his  plane  to  the  ground,  though  badly 
wounded. 

I  carried  a  crazy  man  this  morning.  I 
found  him  wandering  aimlessly  around 
Verdun  with  a  nasty  hole  in  his  head,  and 
tried  to  get  him  into  the  car,  but  he  kept 


THE  BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       179 

insisting  he  was  too  heavy.  Finally,  with 
the  aid  of  a  couple  of  soldiers  we  made  him 
get  aboard.  He  murmured  all  the  time, 
*'Je  suis  trop  lourd.  Je  suis  trop  lourd." 
I  held  him  with  one  hand  while  I  steered 
him  to  the  hospital  in  the  town.  The  poor 
devil  was  so  weak  from  the  loss  of  blood 
and  from  the  bang  on  his  head  that  it 
was  n't  difficult.  Then,  when  he  got  to  the 
hospital  he  refused  to  leave  the  car.  He 
seemed  to  have  become  attached  to  it,  so 
we  had  to  drag  him  out. 

August  26.  They  brought  a  real,  raving 
maniac  into  the  *'poste"  to-day.  He  was 
the  only  one  left  of  a  squad  of  eight  —  all 
killed  in  a  shell  hole  by  one  marmite.  He 
lived  with  the  dead  bodies  for  three  days ! 
When  they  dragged  him  into  the  tunnel 
he  shouted,  "You're  going  to  kill  me! 
You're  going  to  kill  me!"  The  place  is 
rather  gruesome,  being  dark  except  for 
the  acetylene  lamp  over  the  operating- 
table.  They  sent  him  down  with  two 
*'brancardiers"  sitting  on  him.  At  Lan- 
drecourt  he  attacked  the  Medecin  Chef, 
so   they  put   him   in    a  straight- jacket. 


180    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

He  thought  every  one  wished  to  kill  him. 
He  was  absolutely  unscratched. 

Vic  White  and  Kurtz  cleaned  out  the 
fountain  to-day,  and  we  will  now  have 
a  fine  bathing-pool.  Crane,  of  Section  E, 
dropped  in  to  see  Roche  and  me;  first  time 
we've  run  across  him  since  the  "Rocham- 
beau"  and  the  days  of  waiting  in  Paris. 
He  says  they  have  had  considerable  work 
around  Toul  and  that  he  has  become  quite 
expert  at  ducking  shells  and  sliding  for 
dug-outs,  like  an  enthusiastic  base-runner 
trying  to  stretch  a  three-bagger.  They  are 
now  stationed  at  Ipecourt  and  have  a  long 
run  to  Fort  Glorieux,  their  "poste." 

August  27.  I  shan't  forget  last  evening 
in  a  hurry.  To  begin  with,  as  the  his- 
toric tale  commences,  *'It  was  a  dark  and 
stormy  night  and  the  rain  was  pouring  in 
torrents."  Well,  we  could  n't  see  the  road 
a  yard  ahead  of  us,  and,  of  course,  the 
Boches  took  it  into  their  heads  to  attack. 
The  men  we  carried  later  said  they  had 
never  seen  the  Germans  come  on  with 
greater  fury;  but  finally  they  were  beaten 
back.    The  French  "tir  de  barrage"  was 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       181 

fearful;  just  like  the  night  of  the  big  at- 
tack on  Souville;  and  the  Boches  kept 
shelling  the  road  all  night.  In  addition  to 
the  shells,  the  danger  of  being  run  into  by 
some  one  of  our  amateur  speed  kings  was 
very  great,  as  the  road  is  merely  a  nar- 
row, muddy  lane  winding  up  the  side  of 
the  steep  slope  to  Fort  St.  Michel  and 
Souville.  The  batteries  around  Fort  St. 
Michel  were  getting  hot  on  our  left  also. 
Well,  first,  I  nearly  collided  with  one  of 
the  "brethren"  as  he  came  tearing  up  the 
hill  while  I  was  coming  down  slowly  with 
a  load  of  *' couches."  He  drove  me  clean 
off  the  road,  but  luckily  I  was  on  the  in- 
side against  the  hill,  and  not  going  the 
other  way,  or  I  'd  have  been  in  the  ravine 
a  couple  of  hundred  feet  below.  On  my 
next  trip  up  I  found  that  Townsend  had 
collided  with  Walker  and  both  machines 
were  "Bayliesed"  beyond  immediate  re- 
demption. The  fronts  of  both  looked  like 
concertinas.  I  asked  Walker  privately 
how  it  happened,  and  he  said,  "I  was 
coming  along  slowly  and  tooting  my  whis- 
tle when  Ned  came  tearing  down,  hell- 


182    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

bent,  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  road."  I 
then  took  Ned  aside  and  asked  for  his 
version,  and  he  said,  "I  was  coming  along 
slowly,  and  tooting  my  whistle,  when  Sam 
came  tearing  down,  hell-bent,  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  road ! "  So  there  you  are. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  merely  proved 
beyond  doubt  that  two  "Flivvers'*  cannot 
occupy  the  same  place  at  the  same  time, 
wonderful  as  they  are !  White  took  Town- 
send's  "blesses,"  who  were  luckily  unin- 
jured by  the  accident.  He  had  n't  gone  a 
half-mile  when  he  blew  out  a  tire;  so  the 
unfortunate  passengers  were  again  trans- 
ferred, this  time  to  Roche.  They  must 
have  had  a  very  unneutral  opinion  of  the 
American  Ambulance.  Meantime  I  went 
on  my  way  up  to  the  "poste."  As  I  got 
within  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  it,  I 
heard  the  whine  of  a  big  shell,  and  a  mo- 
ment later  saw  it  burst  about  a  hundred 
yards  ahead  of  me  right  beside  the  road. 
Visions  of  "Please  omit  flowers"  came  to 
Willie  all  right,  so  I  opened  her  up  as 
much  as  I  dared  in  the  dark,  in  the  hope 
that  I  'd  get  by  the  bad  corner  before  the 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       183 

next  one  came  along.  I  just  did  it  by  a 
half.  The  second  shell  was  almost  right 
beside  the  road  again  and,  believe  me, 
the  flying  pieces  seemed  to  whistle  all 
around  the  car.  It  was  the  closest  call  yet 
—  or  at  least  so  it  seemed  with  the  vari- 
ous accompaniments  of  rough  weather, 
pitch  darkness,  awful  roads,  and  speed- 
mad  "  brethren."  Dawn  was  certainly 
welcome  when  it  finally  came  as  I  fin- 
ished my  third  trip. 

On  the  last  round  I  carried  a  well-edu- 
cated "poilu"  of  about  forty  years  of  age, 
who  paid  the  American  Ambulance  many 
compliments;  he  said  that  no  matter  how 
our  Government  had  acted  the  soldiers  of 
France  who  had  had  the  privilege  of  seeing 
our  work  would  never  forget  the  debt  they 
owed  us,  and  more  to  the  same  effect.  This 
man  had  rifle  bullets  through  both  hands. 
He  said  he  and  another  soldier  got  the 
drop  on  four  Boches,  who  put  up  their 
rifles  and  yelled  "Kamerad"  in  token  of 
surrender.  Then,  when  the  Frenchmen 
beckoned  them  to  come  in,  and  let  down 
their  sighted  guns,  the  Boches  suddenly 


184    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

opened  fire,  wounding  my  man;  but  his 
partner  and  a  machine-gun  squad  wiped 
out  the  four  dirty  curs  before  they  could 
play  any  more  of  their  foul  tricks. 

"Huts"  came  back  this  evening  and  an- 
nounced that  there  were  some  new  and 
deep  shell  holes  in  the  road,  and  to  look 
out  for  them.  So  I  suggested  that  some 
of  us  go  ahead  of  time  and  fill  them  up. 
Baylies  volunteered  to  go  with  me,  and  we 
worked  till  the  light  gave  out;  we  did 
about  six  or  eight.  It  helped  the  road  a 
lot.  W^e  expect  a  big  bunch  of  "blesses'* 
to-night,  as  a  more  or  less  general  attack 
was  made  by  various  regiments,  including 
the  Senegalese.  Vic  White  went  up  with 
the  "Loot"  to  the  artillery  observation  post 
and  said  it  was  an  awful  sight :  bodies  blown 
high  in  the  air  and  falling  down  in  little 
pieces.  He  said  the  attack  was  scheduled 
for  five  o'clock,  and  the  minutes  of  sus- 
pense just  before  it  occurred  were  frightful. 
At  the  stroke  of  five,  little  blue  manikins 
appeared  out  of  the  earth  and  began  to 
move  forward  ail  along  the  line.  The 
whole  field  was  dotted  with  explosions  and 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      185 

clouds  of  smoke,  and  now  and  then  a  mani- 
kin would  suddenly  drop  or  jump  up  in 
the  air.  The  Boches  were  hardly  discern- 
ible in  the  distance,  except  when  they  were 
blown  bodily  out  of  their  shell  holes. 
There  were  no  trenches  to  speak  of,  natu- 
rally. The  attack  was  only  partially  suc- 
cessful. As  far  as  we  know,  to  date,  some 
of  the  regiments  were  checked  by  hand- 
grenades;  others  advanced  a  hundred 
yards  or  so;  but  they  got  quite  a  bunch 
of  prisoners.  Vic  says  there's  nothing  to 
be  seen  of  Fleury  but  a  white  and  red 
smear  on  the  brown  earth  —  the  bricks 
and  mortar;  not  a  house,  not  a  wall  stand- 
ing. He  described  how  one  Boche  was 
blown  in  three  pieces  high  up  above  the 
treetops  and  two  of  the  pieces  fell  rapidly, 
but  the  third  came  drifting  down  slowly: 
it  was  his  overcoat  which  had  been  ripped 
right  off  him  by  the  explosion. 

August  28.  Last  night  was  a  repetition 
of  the  previous  one.  The  whole  squad  was 
out  all  night, including  even  the  "camion '* 
which  was  used  to  carry  "assis."  Nobody 
was  smashed,  however.  The  returning  cars 


186    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

were  ordered  to  make  a  part  of  the  run  by 
the  road  through  Belleray,  which  eUmi- 
nated  at  least  a  modicum  of  the  chances 
of  accidents  between  our  zealous  "breth- 
ren." It  was  pitch  black,  and  rained  in- 
termittently, and  the  roads  were  fright- 
fully slippery.  In  addition,  new  shell  holes 
appeared  in  the  road  to  make  up  for  the 
ones  we  had  filled  in.  I  got  a  blow-out, 
and  so  did  Vic  W^hite.  Yesterday's  at- 
tack was,  as  I  feared,  a  failure  and  a 
costly  one.  One  can  tell,  by  the  general 
attitude  of  the  men  we  carry,  how  things 
have  gone.  They,  of  course,  only  know  of 
their  own  immediate  surroundings ;  but  the 
feeling  of  victory  or  defeat  quickly  spreads, 
even  though  no  definite  information  is 
forthcoming  for  days  afterwards. 

August  29.  It  poured  last  night,  but  our 
squad  was  "en  repos,"  and  for  the  first 
time  since  I've  been  here,  I  slept  in  my 
own  blankets  and  "brancard"  in  the 
chateau.  Bowman  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  a  shell  which  burst  right  beside  him 
and  wounded  one  of  his ' '  blesses ' '  in  the  leg. 
He  '11  probably  be  cited.   Wilson  fell  into 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       187 

a  ditch,  the  road  being  entirely  covered 
with  water,  and  he  had  to  stay  there  till 
daylight,  when  he  got  out.  Culbertson  and 
Bowman  collided  near  the  Verdun  Gate, 
but  no  damage  was  done.  Little  had  tire 
trouble,  and  had  to  transfer  his  "blesses'* 
twice. 

Lathrop  and  Paul  left  to-day.  Every 
one  was  awfully  sorry.  They  are  hard 
workers,  good  drivers,  and  Paul  an  expert 
mechanic  besides.  The  Groupement  E 
Chef  has  been  so  pleased  with  our  work 
that  we  have  been  permitted  to  shed 
the  Thirty-second  Division  which  went 
out  to-day  for  "repos."  We  are  dreadfully 
sorry  to  lose  the  old  Catholic  priest,  Abbe 
Lauras,  who  was  with  the  Thirty-second: 
a  fine  man,  always  on  the  job  night  and 
day.  He  knows  just  about  as  much  of  the 
handling  of  troops  as  do  the  officers;  and 
many  of  them  consulted  him  as  to  the  dis- 
position of  their  men  in  the  "abris."  He 
certainly  was  worked  to  death  during  the 
two  weeks  he  was  here,  and  looked  very 
haggard  and  about  "all  in"  when  he  was 
replaced.   The  new  priest  seems  to  be  a 


188    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

good  sort  too  —  in  fact,  all  the  priests  at 
the  Front  are  an  exceptional  class  of  men 
and  many  carry  the  Croix  de  Guerre. 

We  're  to  remain  another  fortnight  with 
the  Sixty-eighth  Division.  The  other  Sec- 
tions will  be  as  sore  as  crabs  when  they 
hear  we  are  to  stay.  Section  2  has  been 
pulling  all  the  wires  it  can  to  get  our  job; 
and  so  have  the  Harjes  and  the  English 
Section  1,  which  we  displaced.  We  are  to 
do  the  same  work,  and  a  French  Section  of 
Pugeots  will  take  the  evacuating  from 
Landrecourt.  It  took  some  jollying  on  the 
part  of  our  "Loot  "  to  let  us  supersede 
them,  as  they  were  the  normal  ones  to 
take  the  Souville  job,  being  the  regular 
Section  with  the  Sixty-eighth  Division. 
With  Paul  and  Lathrop  gone,  and  Imbrie 
still  absent  in  Paris  owing  to  family  and 
business  affairs,  we  are  short  two  men,  but 
W^allace  and  Ned  Townsend's  cars  are 
smashed,  and  they  are  taking  the  released 
cars;  hence  all  that  can  roll  are  doing  so. 
"Huts"  has  telegraphed  and  written  to 
Paris  again  for  more  cars,  but  so  far  has 
received  no  satisfaction. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       189 

August  30.  It  is  astonishing  how  news 
carries  in  the  trenches.  On  the  night  of  the 
28th,  I  carried  "poilus"  who  told  me  that 
Roumania  had  gone  in  with  the  Alhes. 
There  was  not  a  word  about  it  in  the  papers 
of  the  29th  and  I  thought  it  was  idle  gos- 
sip. Yet  this  morning  it  proves  to  be  true! 
I  had  fun  with  the  Protestant "  Aumonier" 
of  the  new  Division,  who  had  never  been 
under  fire  before.  I  carried  him  from  the 
hospital  at  Landrecourt  to  this  new ' '  poste  '* 
at  the  Caserne  Marceau,  below  Souville. 
As  we  neared  Verdun  he  was  much  inter- 
ested in  the  view,  the  Mort  Homme,  Hill 
304,  Tavannes,  Souville,  St.  Michel,  and 
so  on;  but  as  we  passed  through  the  ruined 
city  and  began  to  get  close  to  the  guns,  he 
got  more  and  more  nervous,  especially  as 
he  could  n't  differentiate  between  the  out- 
going and  incoming  shells.  Finally  he 
asked  where  the  "poste"  was  and,  as  luck 
would  have  it,  a  big  shell  burst  right  over 
it,  up  the  hill,  and  I  pointed  it  out  to  him. 
The  new  "100"  marine  guns  were  bark- 
ing like  mad,  nearly  jumping  him  out  of 
his  seat;  and  the  finishing  touch  occurred 


190    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

just  as  we  arrived  at  the  "poste,"  when  a 
*'105"  shrapnel  burst  above  us.  He  was 
almost  incoherent.  But  when  he  saw  some 
of  the  old  Division  still  there,  for  a  mo- 
ment he  had  a  ray  of  hope  that  he  had  got 
to  the  wrong  place.  This  was  quickly  dis- 
pelled, however,  and  when  I  left  to  go 
down  again,  the  old  Catholic  priest  was 
kindly  explaining  to  him  that  he  would 
take  him  to  his  dug-out  a  hundred  yards 
up  the  road,  just  as  soon  as  the  Boches 
stopped  shelling  it  for  a  moment.  Poor 
fellow,  I  felt  sorry  for  him.  I  doubt  if  he 
will  be  of  much  spiritual  benefit  to  his 
flock  for  a  while,  at  least. 

Potter  and  Francklyn  collided  last  night 
and  both  bent  front  axles.  That  puts  four 
cars  out  of  business  and  makes  the  work 
all  the  harder  for  the  rest  of  us.  However, 
old  Sponagle  —  "Eddy"  —  has  suddenly 
developed  a  fit  of  energy,  and  is  hard  on 
the  job,  so  he  should  get  a  couple  of  them 
in  commission  again  soon. 

August  31 .  Last  night  it  rained  and 
blew  hard.  Wilson  thought  it  was  Sunday, 
and  ran  into  a  church  at  Landrecourt,  and 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       191 

ruined  his  front  assembly.  While  I  was 
dozing  in  my  car  at  Verdun,  I  was  awak- 
ened to  find  it  running  down  the  street: 
the  wind  blew  it.  Such  a  surprise!  This 
morning,  a  shell  hit  the  "  poste, "  but  out  of 
pure  luck  no  one  was  hurt;  only  two  cars. 
Francklyn's  and  White's  got  "eclats'* 
through  the  radiators.  White  had  just  been 
filling  his  radiator  a  moment  before  and 
would  have  been  hit,  surely.  As  luck 
would  have  it,  Paris  sent  two  radiators 
up  by  "camion"  just  in  time  and  "Very 
good  Eddy"  was  able  to  replace  them 
without  delay. 

This  afternoon  it  looked  as  if  we  'd  have 
to  leave  our  happy  home  at  Chateau 
Billemont.  The  Boches  took  it  into  their 
heads  to  throw  a  few  "150's"  into  it.  We 
had  grown  careless,  lately,  about  leaving 
the  cars  in  the  open  and  not  close-shutter- 
ing the  windows;  hence  they  had  prob- 
ably noticed  signs  of  life  about  the  sup- 
posedly empty  place.  Luckily  the  shells 
landed  back  in  the  garden  and  the  shoot- 
ing stopped  after  a  few  minutes. 

I  nearly  broke  my  wrist  cranking  the 


192    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

car  to-day.  The  claw  slipped  and  let  me 
down  with  my  whole  weight,  but  it's  only 
sprained;  an  awful  nuisance,  as  I  can't  use 
it,  and  have  to  crank  the  motor  left- 
handed. 

September  1.  The  scene  is  laid  before 
Verdun.  It  is  raining  like  the  devil;  shells 
are  falling;  a  voice  is  heard  outside  the 
cave  in  the  middle  of  the  night.  —  "I'd 
just  like  to  meet  de  guy  what  started 

this  G d war,  anyway!" — in 

plain  American  Bowery  accents.  And  in 
splashed  a  blue-clad  Franco-American, 
boss  of  Senegalese  trench-diggers.  He 
had  lived  in  New  York  for  ten  years; 
now  a  "  sous-officier "  and  glad  to  find 
friends. 

The  "Germs"  shelled  out  the  "poste" 
and  the  road  to-day,  when  we  were  on 
day  duty.  Generally  everybody  looks  for- 
ward to  that  because  it  means  photos 
and  souvenirs.  But,  to-day,  one  felt  more 
like  home  and  mother!  Wallace  coming 
to  relieve  us  for  lunch  had  an  awfully 
tight  squeeze  making  the  hill  while  we 
watched  him.  The  road  there  takes  a  big 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       193 

"S"  turn,  and  the  Boches  were  dropping 
"  ISO's"  all  along  the  lower  half,  trying  to 
get  the  marine  "lOO's"  batteries.  One 
dropped  right  ahead  of  Wallace,  and  a  sec- 
ond ten  feet  behind  him.  I  don't  know 
whether  he  or  we  were  scared  the  worst. 
It  was  new  to  him,  whereas  we'd  been 
gettmg  Hades  since  11  a.m.,  but  each  time 
we  ducked  into  the  "abri"  just  in  time. 

Nobody  cared  to  ease  down  to  lunch,  al- 
though we  'd  previously  all  agreed  that  we 
were  ravenously  hungry  around  eleven 
o'clock.  Those  appetites  faded  away  some- 
how. Believe  me,  nobody  cared  for  that 
little  lofty  spot,  although  they  tell  me 
*'  it 's  quite  safe,  because  they  're  not  shoot- 
ing at  it,  but  at  a  battery."  Of  course,  I 
know  that;  we  all  do.  But  the  same  thrill 
gets  one's  spine  when  that  nasty  **ziss- 
bang  "  comes  by,  whether  they  're  shooting 
at  one  or  not,  especially  when  the  differ- 
ence can't  be  more  than  a  millimeter  on 
the  sight  and  is  only  a  couple  of  meters  at 
our  end,  seeing  that  we  are  on  the  edge  of 
the  ravine  and  our  batteries  are  below  us. 
If  they  hit  us,  they  miss  the  batteries;  and 


194    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

if  they  hit  the  batteries,  they  miss  us.  I  'm 
(personally)  quite  unpatriotic  when  they're 
firing! 

Our  squad  was  called  out  again  at  2  a.m. 
There  had  been  two  Boche  attacks  on 
Fleury.  Incidentally,  they  'd  landed  on  the 
magazine  at  Belrupt  and  the  thing  was 
going  off  like  a  set  of  fireworks.  It  kept 
up  all  night,  as  the  fire  could  not  be  con- 
trolled and  spread  from  one  store  of  shells 
and  powder  to  another.  The  attacks  were 
stopped  none  the  less;  but  "Peter"  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  pulling  a  brand-new 
kind  of  bonehead  trick.  In  pushing  his  car 
from  the  stand  behind  the  "abri"  to  the 
door  to  take  on  "blesses,"  he  let  it  get 
away  from  him,  and  instead  of  grabbing 
the  steering-wheel  or  the  brake  he  tried 
to  hold  it  back  by  hand.  The  thing 
quietly  but  firmly  toppled  over  the  bank 
into  the  ravine  below.  Luckily  no  one  was 
in  it  or  under  it,  as  the  spot  it  landed  on 
was  just  on  the  edge  of  a  cemetery  and, 
mirabile  didu,  the  car  was  uninjured;  but 
"Huts"  Townsend  was  so  provoked  that 
he  threatened  to  have  "Peter"  recalled  to 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       195 

Paris.  I  don't  blame  him,  as  we  need  every 
car  badly.  How  we  got  it  up  on  the  road 
again,  I  don't  yet  know.  It  took  about  half 
of  Joffre's  army  and  most  of  the  Ameri- 
can Ambulance  to  do  it,  by  lifting  and 
hauling  with  the  aid  of  many  expletives 
both  French  and  English.  This  morning 
we  were  all  set  to  washing  cars,  as  there 
is  a  rumor  that  the  head  of  the  Auto  Ser- 
vice is  coming  to  inspect  us.  A2  Squad  has 
therefore  had  no  sleep  now  for  twenty-four 
hours  and  is  on  duty  again  to-night  and  to- 
morrow night.  Cheerful  outlook.  If  some 
more  "bones"  aren't  pulled  during  the 
next  forty-eight  hours  it  will  certainly  be 
surprising. 

September  4.  The  last  entry  in  my  diary 
proved  only  too  correct.  For  three  days 
there  has  been  heavy  fighting  around 
Fleuryand  the  French  got  over  a  thousand 
prisoners.  We  have  been  going  steadily. 
First  of  all,  Jack  McFadden  turned  up 
convoying  two  new  men  (Lindsay  and 
Darden,  both  Southerners),  two  new  cars, 
and  a  big  White  truck  and  kitchen  trailer. 
They  used  the  truck  at  once  to  carry 


196    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

"assis"  —  eighteen  at  a  time  —  a  great 
help,  as  it  takes  the  place  of  more  than 
three  cars. 

On  the  night  of  September  2,  coming 
down  with  a  load,  a  shell  burst  right  ahead 
of  me,  just  as  I  was  passing  a  convoy  of 
*'75's"  ammunition  caissons,  the  horses  of 
which  were  standing,  while  the  drivers  had 
ducked  for  the  roadside  *'abris."  The 
shock  and  flash  of  the  explosion,  which 
pasted  mud  and  stones  all  over  the  car, 
made  the  unattended  horses  wild.  It 
seemed  for  a  minute  as  if  I  was  in  the  cen- 
ter of  a  sea  of  crazy  animals.  In  avoiding 
them  I  nearly  ditched  the  car  and  broke 
the  front  springs,  but  got  away  all  right. 
Barring  a  wrecked  side  box,  and  a  couple 
of  rock  holes  in  the  side  of  the  car,  I  was 
able  to  make  two  more  trips  before  the 
front  construction  gave  way  altogether. 
Luckily  this  occurred  near  our  canton- 
ment. 

The  next  night,  the  3d  of  September, 
was  a  ''bird."  Pitch  black  —  a  fine  drizzle 
of  rain  —  heavy  attacks  by  the  French, 
which  not  only  caused  us  to  be  all  ordered 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       197 

out  again,  but  even  stimulated  the  Mede- 
cin  Chef  into  ordering  six  additional  French 
cars  to  be  placed  at  our  disposition  in  case 
of  need.  This,  of  course,  got  our  back  up, 
and  we  just  managed  to  pull  through  with- 
out using  them;  but  at  the  cost  of  the  fol- 
lowing accidents :  Bowman,  stranded  by  a 
pile  of  rocks;  Jones, ditched;  Walker,  bun- 
kered in  a  shell  hole;  the  little  "camion" 
broken  down ;  Rice  and  the  little  ammuni- 
tion steam  train  amalgamated  together; 
the  new  White  "  camion,"  ditched  com- 
pletely and  lying  on  its  side.  Culbertson 
and  Stevenson  again  proved  that  two  Fords 
cannot  occupy  the  same  spot  at  the  same 
time:  result,  smashed  front  construction 
and  thumb  for  me,  and  a  ruined  radiator 
and  steering-gear  for  Culby. 

This  occurred  at  "dead-man's  turn"  as 
we  call  it;  Culby  coming  up  empty  and  I 
going  down  with  a  load  —  absolutely  so 
dal'k  that  the  road  was  scarcely  visible. 
Luckily  we  both  were  going  slowly;  but  we 
were  unable  to  fix  up  No.  10,  and  so  trans- 
ferred the  "blesses"  to  Little.  Culby  ran 
back  to  the  "poste"  to  get  him.    After 


198    AT  THE  FRONT   IN  A  FLIVVER 

that  we  set  about  fixing  up  the  cars  —  and 
maybe  we  did  n't  hate  each  other!  Each 
was  poUte  enough  to  say  nothing,  after  the 
first  cursing-out  at  the  time  of  the  smash, 
but  we  worked  in  monosyllables. 

In  trying  to  straighten  the  starting- 
crank  of  No.  8,  Tyng  bent  the  biggest 
monkey  wrench  into  the  shape  of  a  fish- 
hook. It  then  slipped  off,  and  six  feet 
three  or  more  of  American  Ambulance 
driver  hit  the  road  with  a  shock  that  must 
have  disturbed  the  aim  of  the  French 
battery  near  by.  That  broke  the  tension 
and  we  both  just  sat  back  and  roared  with 
laughter.  After  that  we  worked  together 
amicably  enough;  and  finally  we  agreed 
the  blame  of  the  collision  lay  about  fifty- 
fifty.  We  pushed  No.  8  around,  after 
vainly  trying  to  straighten  the  starting- 
crank,  and  got  her  going  by  coasting.  We 
certainly  worked  in  a  hurry,  as  dawn  was 
due  to  break  in  a  few  minutes,  and  with 
it  would  come  the  customary  Boche  bom- 
bardment of  the  road.  As  it  was,  several 
marmites  lit  unpleasantly  near.  I  knocked 
my  thumb  out  of  joint  on  the  throttle 


THE  BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       199 

lever  when  we  hit,  and  it  quickly  swelled 
up  to  the  size  of  a  turnip.  This,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  swelled  wrist,  made  my  right 
*'mit"  pretty  nearly  useless.  We  found 
it  impossible  to  straighten  the  front  tri- 
angle of  No.  10  sufficiently  to  steer  it,  so 
pushed  it  to  the  side  of  the  road  and  went 
down  with  No.  8  zigzagging  in  so  weird  a 
fashion  that  we  must  have  been  taken  for 
a  couple  of  drunkards.  Culby  got  her  back 
safely,  however.  We  had  some  break- 
fast and  a  couple  of  hours'  sleep,  and  then 
went  up  again  with  Roger  to  put  in  new 
front  constructions. 

The  car  was  in  plain  view  of  the  Boches, 
but  they  contented  themselves  with  lob- 
bing "ISO's"  over  our  heads  at  the  bat- 
tery behind  us.  It  was  none  the  less  ner- 
vous work,  as  we  could  n't  be  sure  when 
they'd  decide  to  hand  us  one  for  luck.  I 
think  we  established  a  speed  record  for 
the  reparation  in  question. 

Baylies  came  back  from  a  run  to-night 
and  remarked  that  he  could  n't  under- 
stand why  it  was  so  dark.  Vic  White 
rubbed  his  chin  thoughtfully  and  said. 


200    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

"Well,  you  see,  Baylies,  I  think  it  was 
four  —  no,  let  me  see,  yes  —  possibly  five 
hours  ago  that  the  sun  set,  and  you  know 
it's  really  apt  to  get  dark  at  such  times." 
September  5.  Vic  had  a  regular  "  meller- 
drammer,  father-save-the-cheild "  time 
last  night.  He  had  three  "  blesses  graves  " 
in  his  car,  and,  in  crossing  the  railway 
track,  got  his  rear  wheel  caught  and  had 
to  stop.  He  went  to  his  tool-box  and 
found  that  somebody  had  "  borrowed  " 
his  jack,  and  as  all  his  "  blesses  "  were 
"couches,"  they  could  n't  help  him.  Just 
then  a  man  with  a  lantern  came  running 
up  —  "Allez  vite!  allez  vite!"  he  cried; 
**le  train  arrive! "  Just  in  the  nick  of  time 

—  as  is  ever  the  "mellerdrammer's"  way 

—  Little  came  by.  They  got  busy  with 
his  jack  and  the  train  passed  as  the  car 
got  off  the  track.  The  way  Vic  tells  the 
story  is  a  scream. 

The  Senegalese  retook  the  ground  lost 
in  the  Bois  Vaux-Chapitre  last  night,  but 
went  on  farther  than  they  were  told  to  go 
and  were  annihilated.  Of  one  whole  bat- 
talion only  six  survived;  but  luckily  the 


THE  BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       201 

reinforcements  were  rushed  up  in  time  to 
hold  and  consolidate  the  ground  gained. 
They  say  the  charge  was  frightful.  They 
bayoneted  every  Boche  and  cut  off  his 
head  with  their  big  knives  —  a  cross  be- 
tween a  machete  and  a  cutlass.  Sometimes 
they  did  both;  and  when  they  stick  the 
bayonet  in,  they  usually  pull  the  trigger 
at  the  same  time,  so  there  are  few  Boches 
wounded.  In  fact,  I  am  told  the  white 
officers  give  instructions  just  before  the 
final  rush  to  kill  every  white  man,  as 
some  of  the  negroes  are  so  stupid  that  they 
can't  tell  the  difference  between  a  Boche 
and  any  one  else,  especially  in  the  dark. 
Naturally  the  French  officers  do  not  lead 
these  charges. 

My  hand  hurts  like  the  dickens;  but  I 
am  rolling.  I  only  hope  I  don't  have  to 
replace  a  tire,  as  I  have  no  strength  in  the 
right  grip.  Walker  was  so  careful  to  avoid 
the  shell  hole  he  fell  into  last  night,  on 
the  right  side  of  the  road,  that  to-night  he 
eased  into  one  exactly  opposite  it  on  the 
left  side !  He  got  rolling  again  with  the  aid 
of  a  large  part  of  Joffre's  army.  The  "  ca- 


202    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

mion"  was  also  dug  out  of  the  ditch  with 
cheers  and  is  working  again,  thank  good- 
ness. It  saves  us  many  trips  with  "assis,'* 
and  lets  us  take  care  of  the  really  urgent 
cases  much  better.  They  say  that  when  it 
toppled  over  the  bank,  there  were  seven 
French  wounded  sitting  on  one  side  and 
eight  Boches  on  the  other,  and  as  the 
French  were  on  the  up  side  they  fell  on 
the  Boches,  who  thought  they  were  being 
attacked  again.  It  was  quite  a  job  to  get 
them  all  extricated;  but  apparently  the 
mix-up  did  little  harm  to  any  one. 

I  carried  a  regular  "  pousse-caf e "  of  a 
load  this  afternoon:  a  Boche,  an  English- 
man, a  Senegalese,  a  Martiniquan,  and  a 
Frenchman,  with  an  American  driving. 

I  slipped  down  to  the  "75  "  battery  last 
night  with  an  artillery  corporal,  and  he  let 
me  pull  the  string.  I  hope  I  landed  a  cou- 
ple. Anyway,  it  is  some  satisfaction  to 
have  handed  the  "  Germs  "  one,  for  all  they 
've  "wished"  on  us.  This  afternoon,  as  we 
have  expected  all  along,  they  started  in 
to  shell  our  perfectly  good  chateau.  One 
shell  dropped  right  close  to  Roche,  who 


THE  BATTLE   FOR  FLEURY       203 

was  covered  with  fine  stones  and  mud.  For 
some  time  after  he  was  even  picking  bits 
out  of  his  hair.  Culbertson,  who  also  was 
near,  dived  under  his  car.  Nearly  all  the 
machines  were  more  or  less  sprinkled,  but 
the  house  was  not  touched.  They  dropped 
about  five  or  six  in  all,  I  understand,  al- 
though some  of  the  "brethren"  insisted 
upon  it  that  at  least  twenty  came  our  way. 
I  was  out  at  the  "poste"  at  the  time. 

Culby  remarked  that  if  one  wanted  to 
be  safe  now,  one  might  just  as  well  go  up 
to  the  "poste"  as  anywhere  else.  They 
were  shelling  the  road  around  there,  too, 
this  afternoon,  and  also  Verdun  itself.  Al- 
together the  "Hymn  of  Hate"  rang  loud 
to-day. 

One  of  the  worst  local  disasters  of  the 
Verdun  battle  has  just  occurred.  The  rail- 
road tunnel  at  Fort  Tavannes  caught  fire 
last  night.  One  end  was  blocked  against 
the  Germans  and  the  tunnel  used  for 
storing  supplies,  powders,  chemicals,  and 
ammunition.  Also  the  Division  "bran- 
cardiers"  and  staff  of  doctors,  some  six 
hundred  in  all,  lived  there,  and  it  was 


204    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

used  as  a  *'poste  de  secours. "  The  entire 
crowd  were  wiped  out.  Nobody  could  help 
them  and  we  could  only  watch  helplessly 
as  the  smoke  kept  pouring  out  of  the  tun- 
nel all  day.  It  was  purely  an  accident,  not 
due  to  Boche  efforts. 

September  6.  They  shelled  us  again  last 
night,  but  most  of  the  shells  were  squibs. 
They  did  n't  explode  because  of  landing 
in  soft  mud.  The  house  was  n't  touched 
even.  Somebody  remarked  at  breakfast 
that  these  Austrian  Skoda  guns  certainly 
could  shell  a  long  way.  "Yes,  they  can,'* 
was  the  reply,  "right  across  Switzerland." 
Those  which  were  really  handed  us,  how- 
ever, were  about  "155's"  or  "210's"  ma- 
rine shells,  as  they  had  the  soft-metal  point 
covering  for  armor  penetrating,  instead  of 
the  ordinary  time  or  contact  fuse.  They 
came  from  down  the  river  in  the  direction 
of  Bras;  but  of  course  the  shellee  always 
feels  that  he  is  receiving  the  largest  mis- 
siles in  captivity. 

I  ran  across  a  funny  "  brancardier " 
to-day  —  a  new  hand  —  who  insisted  on 
swabbing  out  the  blood   before  putting 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY   205 

"blesses"  in  the  car.  He  said  the  sight 
was  bad  for  them.  The  delay  is  a  nui- 
sance, as  often  the  cars  fairly  run  blood, 
but  he  '11  learn  better  after  a  while.  As  for 
the  **  blesses  "  they  're  generally  too  dazed 
to  notice  anything.  There  was  heavy 
fighting  in  the  Vaux  -  Chapitre  Wood, 
to-day;  also  on  both  sides  of  Fleury.  The 
French  are  nearly  at  Thiaumont  now.  The 
smoke  of  the  battle  almost  hid  the  moon 
for  a  time  last  night.  We  received  a  gas 
warning,  but  it  did  n't  materialize.  One 
man  I  carried,  by  the  way,  asked  me  where 
I  came  from;  and  when  I  answered, 
"America,"  he  said:  "I  know,  but  what 
city."  I  said,  "Philadelphia."  "Thought 
so,"  he  said;  "I  lived  for  years  at  13th 
and  Pine  Streets  and  taught  in  the  Ber- 
litz School  there"! 

He  described  the  fighting  now  going  on 
as  the  worst  of  the  war.  The  relieving 
parties  have  to  throw  the  bits  of  human 
bodies  out  of  the  shell  holes,  in  order  to 
occupy  them.  When  a  shell  falls  near, 
one  is  spattered  with  bits  of  flesh,  some- 
times fresh  and  more  often  rotten.  It  may 


206    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

be  a  comrade  or  a  part  of  a  disinterred 
body.  Battalions  and  divisions  melt  away 
in  three  or  four  days,  and  have  to  be  re- 
placed. He  said  that  he  walked  over  a 
veritable  carpet  of  Senegalese  and  Mar- 
tiniquans.  General  Aimee,  of  the  Sixty- 
seventh,  was  killed  near  our  "poste'*  to- 
day.  Bowman  carried  the  body  down. 

One  fellow  I  brought  down  told  me  that 
he  had  captured  a  Boche  and  was  taking 
him  in  when  he  himself  was  wounded ;  but 
the  Boche,  instead  of  turning  around  and 
capturing  him,  helped  him  back  to  the 
French  lines  and  then  surrendered.  The 
last  lot  of  prisoners  are  very  young, — 
sixteen  and  seventeen  years  old,  —  and 
are  easily  taken.  They  say  the  Germans, 
instead  of  distributing  the  latest  class  of 
recruits  among  the  seasoned  regiments,  as 
do  the  French,  form  new  units  of  them 
and  these  prove  weak. 

Stories  of  fraternal  aid  between  the  op- 
ponents are  mingled  with  others  of  a  blood- 
curdling kind.  One  man  prided  himself 
upon  having  waited  until  a  Boche  came 
right  up  to  him,  surrendering,  and  then 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      207 

he  blew  his  head  off  with  a  hand-grenade. 
Another  story  is  to  the  effect  that  the 
Boches  kill  off  the  French  wounded  lying 
in  the  shell  holes  in  the  same  manner. 
This,  however,  is  doubtless  in  retaliation 
for  the  Senegalese  atrocities.  The  latter 
carry  ears,  teeth,  fingers,  as  charms,  and 
believe  they  can't  be  killed  if  they  wear 
them. 

Bowman  ran  into  a  battery  of  "75's" 
galloping  into  action  last  night,  but  only 
broke  his  lamps  and  mudguards.  Pretty 
lucky.  I  nearly  got  crowned  by  one  of  our 
"speed  kings"  who  was  chasing  around 
the  country  in  a  sort  of  "  Fireman-save- 
the-cheild"  style. 

September  7.  We  rolled  all  night  and 
took  care  of  a  tremendous  number  of 
"blesses"  (later,  I  found  the  exact  num- 
ber to  be  472,  with  only  fifteen  cars  and 
the  "camion "  working) .  I  picked  up  three 
on  the  road  who  had  been  hit  by  a  mar- 
mite,  and  had  had  only  first-aid  care. 
I  rushed  them  to  the  emergency  hospital 
in  the  famous  Vauban  Citadel  of  Verdun. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  I  'd  had  occasion 


208    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

to  enter  it.  It  is  a  wonderful  labyrinth  — 
a  city  in  itself,  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock, 
such,  I  imagine,  as  Gibraltar  must  be: 
endless  tunnels,  rooms,  and  corridors  — 
even  a  theater  and  auditorium. 

It  certainly  is  a  satisfaction  to  note  the 
contrast  in  the  comments  concerning 
the  American  Ambulance,  at  the  Front, 
from  those  to  which  one  is  forced  to  listen 
in  Paris  and  other  cities  far  from  the  lines. 
Here  the  soldiers  can't  praise  us  enough 
and  the  same  is  true  of  the  officers  and 
even  of  the  priests.  Many  soldiers  make 
it  a  point  to  salute  the  ambulances  when 
they  catch  sight  of  the  now  familiar  cars 
and  uniforms,  because  they  have  heard 
of  the  quickness  and  comfortable  springs 
—  so  different  from  the  ordinary  type  of 
"camion'*  ambulance. 

"Ah,  c'est  les  volontaires!  Bon!"  is  a 
common  phrase  from  a  wounded  man. 
This,  however,  does  not  apply  to  the  Sene- 
galese, who  very  often  take  us  for  Boches, 
and  it  gives  one  an  uncomfortable  feeling 
of  doubt  about  their  intentions.  They 
have  often  beeu  known  to  jump  at  Boche 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       209 

prisoners  or  *' blesses,"  and  they  have  to 
be  watched  carefully  by  their  officers. 

September  8.  A  touch  of  autumn  in  the 
air.  These  are  great  days.  The  weather 
is  better  and  the  Allies  are  advancing. 
Even  here  at  Verdun  we  are  making  tiny 
gains.  The  Boches  attacked  in  the  Bois 
Vaux-Chapitre  again  this  morning,  with  gas 
and  a  terrific  *'tir  de  barrage";  but  they 
were  stopped  without  much  effort.  We 
carried  only  169  wounded.  My  last  drive 
down  the  Souville  hill,  called  the  Cote  de 
Meuse,  brought  a  wonderful  sight.  The 
sun  rose  blood-red  through  the  clouds  of 
smoke  and  gas.  Then  a  little  wind  sprang 
up  and  cleared  the  mists  of  battle  away 
in  just  one  spot,  and  a  shaft  of  bright, 
golden  light  fell  full  on  the  great  cathedral 
of  Verdun  towering  above  the  town,  still 
in  semi-darkness.  All  hailed  it  as  a  good 
omen.  In  the  low  places  men  were  wear- 
ing masks  and  the  smell  of  gas  was  very 
strong  —  a  sweetish  odor  as  from  a  candy- 
factory. 

September  9.  The  Commander  of  the 
214th  arrived  with  his  regiment  last  night 


210    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

to  relieve  the  67th.  We  carried  his  body 
down  this  morning.  He  had  n't  been  at 
the  Front  three  hours  before  a  shell  got 
him! 

Ned  Townsend  —  our  archaeologist  — 
brought  in  the  biggest  find  yet  to-day: 
the  whole  barrel  of  a  wrecked  "soixante- 
quinze."  First  he  went  after  it  witha  wheel- 
barrow and  could  n't  manage  it,  and  then 
came  back  and  got  a  Ford.  He  explained 
that  the  difference  between  a  Ford  and  a 
wheelbarrow  was  that  the  latter  had  only 
one  wheel.  He  set  it  up  in  the  front 
*'lawn,"  but  the  "Loot"  had  a  fit.  He 
said  it  was  bad  enough  to  have  the  Boche 
**saucisses"  and  planes  see  all  the  cars 
about;  but  if  they  saw  a  gun  emplaced, 
they'd  simply  shell  the  tar  out  of  us.  So 
Ned  had  to  disassemble  his  masterpiece. 
He  is  a  crank !  —  trophy-hunting  all  the 
time.  He  goes  around  with  a  trench 
shovel,  a  hammer,  and  a  chisel.  The 
Frenchmen  around  the  "poste"  derive  no 
end  of  amusement  out  of  him.  He  is  so 
keen  on  getting  hold  of  all  the  junk  there 
is.  How  he  expects  to  get  it  all  away  from 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       211 

here  without  a  corps  of  "camions"  and 
a  special  freight  ship  is  beyond  me. 

September  10.  Well,  we  go  "en  repos'* 
to-morrow.  To-day  we  are  loafing  and 
packing  up.  Oddly  enough,  this  is  the 
date  of  the  end  of  my  enlistment  in  the 
Field  Service.  I'm  already  a  month  over 
my  enlistment  with  the  Ambulance,  but 
I  think  I'll  hang  on  a  little  longer.  We 
tried  hard  to  get  transferred  to  still  an- 
other Division,  and  to  hold  on  to  the  Front 
Service  and  our  bully  cantonment,  —  the 
best  the  Section  ever  had;  but  as  we  have 
been  on  the  Souville  job  longer  than  any 
Section  has  been  since  the  beginning  of  the 
attack  on  Verdun  last  February,  they  told 
us  we  must  take  a  rest.  Also  we  must  go 
back  to  the  Thirty-second  Division  again, 
which  has  been  re-formed  (it  lost  some 
fifty  per  cent  of  its  strength  in  four  days), 
and  is  now  at  Thiaucourt.  They  were  all 
extremely  sorry  to  see  us  go,  and  we  have 
heard  nothing  but  pretty  speeches  from 
both  ofiicers  and  men. 

September  12.  The  fact  that  our  Divi- 
sion   had    been    pretty    well    hammered 


212    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

turned  out  luckily  for  us.  Naturally,  when 
a  Division  is  cut  to  pieces,  the  "Service 
de  Sante"  gets  more  than  the  ordinary 
work.  Hence,  when  it  came  to  distribut- 
ing the  war  crosses,  the  "  brancardiers," 
doctors,  and  others  came  in  for  more  than 
their  usual  share.  "Huts"  Townsendwas 
cited  by  Order  of  the  Army  Corps  and 
everybody  was  happy  about  it.  Bowman 
and  Francklyn  were  also  cited.  The  for- 
mer got  a  shell  hole  through  his  car  which 
wounded  one  of  his  "blesses"  a  second 
time,  while  Francklyn  got  knocked  down 
by  the  concussion  of  a  shell  as  he  was 
loading  his  car.  The  ceremony  occurred 
here  at  Thiaucourt  when  we  arrived  this 
afternoon.  We  are  quartered  on  the 
grounds  of  the  chateau  of  President  Poin- 
care's  brother.  The  "blonde"  was  glad 
to  see  us,  as  were  all  the  natives,  including 
Francklyn's  washerwoman.  We  had  fun 
with  "Gillies,"  who  was  exceedingly  ner- 
vous. We  told  him  that  he  should  wear 
gloves  at  the  ceremony,  so  he  chased  all 
over  the  place  to  get  a  pair,  and  actually 
appeared  with  them !  He  surely  got  a  laugh. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      213 

September  13.  Section  No.  1  cited  by  Or- 
der of  the  Army  Corps !  This  puts  us  "  top 
dog"  of  all  the  foreign  Sections.  The  cita- 
tion originated  from  the  Sixty-eighth 
Division  for  which  we  worked  during  the 
last  ten  days  of  our  stay  at  Verdun.  Cul- 
bertson  and  Bowman  left  on  their  "per- 
mission" this  morning.  The  "Loot" 
made  a  dandy  speech  last  night,  telling  us 
what  he  thought  of  us  and  eulogizing 
"Huts."  Then  the  Croix  men  produced 
champagne.  Culby's  evening  was  some- 
what marred  by  the  "Loot"  happening  to 
discover  a  large  canvas  bag  of  his,  full  of 
trophies,  and,  of  course,  he  had  to  make 
him  open  it.  He  only  abstracted  some 
bayonets,  though,  and  left  him  his  casings, 
and  other  things.  The  "Loot"  hates  to 
do  this,  but  has  to  according  to  the  Regu- 
lations, and  he  frequently  warns  us  when 
he  is  about  to  make  an  inspection;  so  it 
was  entirely  Culby's  fault  he  was  stung. 
I  shipped  a  big  box  of  junk  to  Paris  as 
soon  as  the  warning  came.  The  Lieuten- 
ant came  back  from  headquarters  this 
morning  with  the  news  that  the  Section 


214    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

that  replaced  us  at  Souville  had  had  four 
men  killed  and  three  wounded,  while  six 
"brancardiers"  were  also  wounded  at  the 
*'poste"  the  very  day  we  left.  A  shell 
burst  among  them  while  they  were  load- 
ing the  cars.  One  man  lost  both  legs  and 
another  one  is  not  expected  to  live.  One 
car  was  completely  wrecked.  We  cer- 
tainly were  lucky.  That 's  the  second  time 
a  replacing  Section  has  had  men  injured 
following  us.  At  Tavannes  a  car  was  lost 
and  two  men  badly  hurt. 

Copy  of  letter  dated  "  Grand  Quartier  '* 
le  1  Septembre  1916 

J^tat-Major  32^  Division. 

Lie  General  Bouchez,  Commandant  la  32™^ 
Div.  d'Infantrie. 
Le  General  commandant  la  32°^^  division 
adresse  tous  ses  remerciements  a  la  Section 
Sanitaire  Americaine  No.  1.  Pendant  la  pe- 
riode  du  20  au  30  aotit  la  Section  sous  les 
ordres  du  Lieutenant  de  Kersauson  et  du  sous- 
Lieutenant  Townsend,  a  assure,  dans  le  secteur 
le  plus  bombarde  de  Verdun,  I'evaeuation  des 
blesses.  Tous  les  conducteurs  ont  en  maintes 
circonstances  fait  preuve  de  courage  et  de 
sang-froid.   lis  ont  fait  1' admiration  de  tous 


a 

''A 

<  en 
'A  ^ 

2  a 


55   5 


as  bS 
"  o 

m 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      215 

ceux  qui  les  ont  vu  accomplir  leur  devoir. 
Toute  la  Division  leur  est  reconnaissante  de 
leur  devouement  pour  les  blesses  et  est  fiere 
d'avoir  compte  dans  ses  rangs  des  volontaires 
Americains  dignes  descendants  de  Franklin  et 
de  Washington. 

(Signe)  BoucHEZ. 

Copy  oj  letter  dated  "  Grand  Quartier  "  '^taU 
Major  —  Service  de  Sante 

Le  Medecin  principal  de  l'"^  classe  de  Casau- 
bon  —  Medecin  Divisionnaire  a  la  Sec- 
tion Sanitaire  Americaine  No.  1. 

Aux  felicitations  et  aux  remerciements 
adresses  par  le  General  commandant  la  32™® 
Division  a  la  S.S.A.A.  No.  1,  le  Medecin  Di- 
visionnaire ajoute  ses  felicitations  et  ses  re- 
merciements personnels. 

II  a  vu  la  S.S.A.A.  No.  1  a  I'oeuvre.  II 
a  pu  s'assurer  qu'elle  avait  realise  ce  qu'il 
attendait  d'elle;  de  son  courage  calme  et 
souriant,  de  son  devouement  absolu,  de  son 
ardeur  a  faire  le  mieux  possible  pour  le  plus 
grand  avantage  de  nos  blesses. 

Le  Medecin  Divisionnaire  conservera  des 
jours  de  Verdun  un  souvenir  inoubliable  dans 
lequel  tiendront  une  belle  place  les  distingues 
ojfficiers  qui  commandent  la  section  et  leurs 
vaillants  conducteurs  volontaires. 

(Signe)  DE  Casaubon. 


216    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

September  14.  I  certainly  did  n*t  ex- 
pect to  continue  this  diary  after  Septem- 
ber 10,  when  my  enlistment  expired,  but 
I  have  agreed  to  stick  along  for  another 
three  months.  The  big  push  is  gaining  in 
intensity  and  it 's  hardly  the  time  to  quit, 
although  I'm  afraid  that  we  are  side- 
tracked in  the  Argonne  again.  However, 
I  hope  for  the  best. 

September  15.  To-day  the  Section  moved 
to  the  so-called  *' Front"  again,  but  in  the 
Argonne  this  time.  A  little  place,  named 
La  Grange-au-Bois,  near  Ste.  Menehould, 
where  Louis  XVI  was  kept  by  the  Revo- 
lutionists when  he  was  caught.  I  saw  the 
room  in  the  Town  Hall  where  he  was 
prisoner.  The  "Loot "  announced  at  din- 
ner last  night  that  two  cars  would  have 
to  remain  for  a  couple  of  days  with  the 
Etat-Major.  He  said  he  wanted  two  men 
who  would  talk  French  and  dress  de- 
cently, and  then  picked  Roche  and  me! 
I  took  the  Commandant  all  around  north- 
ern France  to-day,  and  Roche  had  to  run 
to  Bar-le-Duc.  To-morrow,  at  5  a.m., 
I've  got  to  be  on  the  job  again  to  take 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      217 

the  Commandant  to  the  advance  posts. 
The  warfare  on  the  Argonne  line  is  rather 
different  from  other  parts,  being  almost 
entirely  confined  to  vast  mining  opera- 
tions; and  the  "Genie"  are  therefore  the 
main  thing.  Of  course,  there  is  also  the 
usual  artillery  hammering,  but  little  in- 
fantry fighting.  They  say  this  mining  is 
very  hard  on  the  morale  of  the  men,  as 
they  are  blown  up  by  regiments  instead 
of  companies;  but  of  course  the  explosions 
are  relatively  few  and  far  between,  as  com- 
pared to  the  regular  "tir  de  barrage" 
work. 

September  16.  I  lunched  with  officers  at 
their  quarters  back  of  the  chateau,  in  a 
little  cottage  fitted  with  old  furniture 
which  made  one's  mouth  water.  There 
was  a  chest  of  drawers  and  a  grandfather's 
clock  that  any  collector  would  have  given 
several  hundred  dollars  to  have;  and  I 
suppose  they  could  have  been  bought  for 
a  song  if  only  we  had  the  means  of  getting 
them  away  and  of  packing  them  properly. 

A  swanking  young  officer  who  has  been 
**embusqueing"  in  the  Automobile  De- 


218    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

partment,  wearing  fancy  khaki  clothes, 
got  caught  to-day,  and  has  been  sent  into 
the  regular  line  work.  The  army  is  gradu- 
ally sifting  out  the  "embusques"  (young 
men  of  military  age  who  are  hiding  in  soft 
jobs),  and  replacing  them  with  older  men 
whose  term  of  service  is  ended  —  a  good 
thing. 

Old  Roger  has  been  fired  by  the  "Loot  " 
for  impertinence.  I  was  sorry  to  see  him 
go,  he  was  so  typical  of  the  soldier  of 
Napoleon's  time.  Big,  broad-shouldered, 
with  the  bristling  mustache  and  imperial. 
I  fancy  he  did  n't  mind  going  much,  as 
he  was  a  regular  soldier  and  not  an  auto- 
mechanic.  Perhaps  we  '11  get  a  really  good 
"mec  "  this  time  to  help  out  "Very  good 
Eddy"  and  Rapp. 

September  17.  We  have  arrived  at  La 
Grange-aux-Bois  on  the  main  Govern- 
ment road  between  Paris  and  Metz.  We 
are  camped  here  in  a  somewhat  leaky  barn 
about  seven  or  eight  kilometers  from  the 
Front.  The  customary  rain  has  been  fall- 
ing ever  since.  The  "postes"  to  which  we 
go  are  unusually  close  to  the  lines.  There 's 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY      219 

nothing  doing,  however,  except  intermit- 
tent bombardment.  I  was  asked  to-day  by 
an  apparently  intelligent-looking  French- 
man if  I  was  American,  and  when  I  said 
*'Yes,"  he  said  he  supposed  I  came  from 
Buenos  Aires!  It  seemed  to  be  the  only 
town  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  he  'd  ever 
heard  of.  He  also  asked  if  America  was  a 
Republic.  Of  course,  there  followed  the 
customary  inquiries,  if  we  were  volunteers, 
and  how  much  we  were  paid;  and  when  I 
said,  on  the  contrary  it  cost  us  money,  he 
became  very  much  offended  and  walked 
himself  off  as  if  I  was  trying  to  make  a  fool 
of  him ! 

September  18.  Crowds  of  Russians  are 
here.  We  thought  the  Champagne  attack 
had  started  at  last,  according  to  what  we 
heard  from  them  and  also  judging  from 
the  increasing  activity  of  the  guns  to  our 
left.  This  proved  not  to  be  the  case,  al- 
though everybody  thought  so  at  the  time. 
We  are  doing  our  best  to  get  transferred 
back  to  the  Colonials  who  are  working 
with  the  Russians  only  a  few  kilometers 
from  here.  I  did  the  customary  chauffeur- 


220    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

taxi  work  to-day.  I  took  three  joy-riding 
officers  into  Ste.  Menehould,  where  they 
stayed  for  a  couple  of  hours  and  came  back 
with  two  live  chickens,  which  I  was  told 
to  carry  over  to  the  car,  just  like  "  Jimes 
in  the  ply"  because  it  looked  "odd"  for 
them  to  do  it.  However,  it 's  amusing  and 
I  don't  give  a  hang  anyway,  as  we  are 
here  to  help  the  French!! 

September  21.  The  only  advance 
"postes"  we  have  which  are  really  worth 
while  evacuate  the  "Four  de  Paris"  and 
"La  Fille  Morte."  There  Germans  are  in 
sight  and  the  "camoufleurs"  have  been 
busy  screening  the  road.  There  are  some 
fine  trenches,  and  redoubts  beautifully 
fixed  up  and  electrified  around  here;  but 
the  fighting  is  only  sporadic.  The  Boches 
attacked  the  other  night,  but  were  easily 
repulsed,  and  one  car  was  able  to  handle 
the  "blesses."  Nobody  pays  any  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  Boches  are  so 
close;  and  every  one  walks  around  uncon- 
cernedly, not  thinking  of  entering  the  dug- 
outs except  for  meals  or  when  it  rains. 
Culbertson  and  Bowman  are  back  from 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       221 

their  "permissions."  The  first  casualty 
for  Section  No.  1  occurred  to-day  when 
Kurtz  ran  a  bayonet  through  his  hand 
while  using  it  to  sling  apples.  He  was 
treated  at  the  hospital. 

A  lot  of  the  men  are  down  with  bad 
colds  and  grippe,  however,  as  it  has  rained 
nearly  all  the  time  since  we  have  been 
here,  and  the  barracks  are  simply  soaking 
wet.  I  sleep  on  a  cot  with  a  rubber  sheet 
over  my  blankets  and  the  rain  pours 
through  the  leaky  roof,  splashing  dismally 
all  night.  Sponagle  left  his  boots  care- 
lessly out  from  under  his  cot  last  night, 
and  in  the  morning  they  were  full  of 
water  which  he  poured  into  a  basin  for 
washing,  thereby  saving  a  trip  to  the  spring ! 
The  stove,  which  we  stole  from  another 
barrack,  only  works  at  intervals  and  usu- 
ally chokes  and  fills  the  place  with  smoke. 
The  rats  crawl  all  over  the  place,  too;  but 
the  twenty  cots  Christine  sent  us  save  those 
who  have  them  from  this  particular  an- 
noyance. Half  the  squad  was  taken  in  the 
"camion"  to  Ste.  Menehould  yesterday 
for  a  hot  bath,  the  first  I  'd  had  in  over 


222    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

two  months,  when  I  was  last  in  Paris !  Our 
clothes  did  n't  fit  us  when  we  came  out  — 
just  hung  limply  over  our  thinned-down 
figures.  Kurtz  gave  a  birthday  party  night 
before  last.  He  had  the  "eats"  sent  from 
Chalons.  —  It  was  great !  —  mushroom 
omelet,  real  peas,  chops,  tomato  soup, 
fresh  fromage  a  la  creme,  and  cham- 
pagne. 

September  22.  This  is  real  life.  I  learn  a 
new  trade  every  day.  I  've  just  been  put- 
ting a  new  roof  on  the  barracks;  tar  pa- 
per and  laths.  Two  sets  of  us  tried  rival 
methods  —  up-and-down  strips  or  shingles 
effect,  and  we  're  now  hoping  for  rain  (hav- 
ing had  only  this  one  clear  day  in  three 
weeks)  in  order  to  test  the  two  theories. 
"Jack"  McFadden  turned  up  to-day  to 
take  one  of  the  old  cars  down.  He  tells  us 
there's  a  chance  for  Salonika.  Section  3 
has  come  out  of  the  Vosges  and  is  at  Ver- 
sailles, and  they  may  go  right  off.  It  should 
be  quite  a  trip.  If  they  do  put  that 
through,  we  should  try  for  Egypt — a  nice 
soft  place  to  spend  the  winter. 

September  23.  Culby  had  some  funny 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       223 

times  In  Paris.  He  met  X,  whose  wife  had 
just  threatened  to  come  over  to  see  him. 
He  cabled,  "I  love  you,  I  love  you,  but 
stay  where  you  are ! "  The  censor  read  this 
effusion,  studied  it,  shook  his  head,  and 
decided  it  was  a  new  sort  of  code  that  he 
did  n't  understand  and  refused  to  pass  it. 
Culby  also  met "  Tommy  "  Holt  and  ''Bill " 
Hoovler,  of  Section  2,  who  are  going 
home. 

Culby  tried  to  climb  over  the  Gare  de 
I'Est  fence,  one  night,  in  a  search  for  food, 
and  got  caught  on  a  spike  and  hung  dan- 
gling by  the  seat  of  his  pants,  until  a  gen- 
darme came  along  and  unhooked  him  as 
he  would  a  ham!  It  must  have  been  a 
weird  sight  to  come  across  a  six-foot-three- 
inch  soldier  hanging  on  a  fence  doubled 
like  a  sack  in  that  casual  manner. 

Culby  ran  into  the  American  Flying 
Squad  in  Paris.  They  were  in  process  of 
being  transferred  from  Verdun  to  the 
Vosges  and  were  celebrating.  They  had 
somewhere  purchased  a  young  lion  cub, 
which  they  dragged  around  from  hotel  to 
hotel  for  five  days,  much  to  the  consterna- 


224    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

tion  of  the  inhabitants  and  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  the  lion,  which  kept  up  a  steady 
stream  of  growls  and  snarls.  He  had  only 
just  been  weaned  and  liked  to  have  a  finger 
to  suck;  but  if  the  owner  wished  to  with- 
draw it,  there  was  nothing  doing  until 
the  lion  wanted  him  to.  Culby  had  to  sit 
perfectly  still  with  his  finger  in  its  mouth 
for  an  hour,  and  he  said  it  was  the  worst 
experience  he'd  had  since  Verdun. 

The  balance  of  Christine's  cots  arrived 
this  afternoon  amid  loud  cheers. 

September  24.  A  telegram  arrived  from 
Andrew,  calling  for  volunteers  for  Salonika. 
I  wish  I  could  go;  but  one  has  to  engage 
for  seven  months;  also  Section  3  is  being 
used  as  a  nucleus.  If  we  could  only  go  un- 
der Townsend  and  our  "Loot"  I  think  the 
whole  Section  would  jump  at  the  chance. 
Francklyn,  Bowman,  Imbrie,  Baylies, 
Culbertson,  and  Roche  said  they  could  go; 
but  it  is  understood  that  only  three  or  four 
from  each  of  the  Field  Sections  will  be 
picked  according  to  length  of  service.  We 
have  a  new  decoration  now :  the  order  of 
the  Golden  Baylies  with  fig  leaves  and 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       225 

moons  instead  of  palms  and  stars.  Jones 
was  the  first  to  receive  it  last  night  for 
revoking  at  bridge.  Rice  pulled  a  new 
method  of  getting  the  men  up  this  morn- 
ing. Instead  of  the  customary  evacuation 
by  upsetting  the  bed,  he  threatened  to 
write  a  poem  about  the  men  who  were 
still  in  their  blankets.  That  was  suflBcient 
to  bring  all  out  standing. 

September  26.  I  went  over  to  Edward 
Kelly's  funeral  with  "Huts,"  Vic,  and 
Roche.  The  ceremony  was  impressive;  of 
course.  Catholic.  It  was  held  at  Blercourt, 
near  the  Mort  Homme.  Section  2  took  over 
Section  4's  job  for  the  day,  so  that  all  of 
them  could  attend.  Section  4  is  at  Ipe- 
court  and  2  at  Rampont.  A  few  Section  2 
men  are  also  there  and  a  couple  of  Section 
3,  as  well  as  one  of  Section  7  (Norton). 
Sections  8  and  9  being  in  the  Vosges 
could  n't  send  any  one  nor  did  the  Paris 
Squad.  Andrew  came  up,  of  course.  In 
all,  there  were  about  thirty -five  Americans 
who  filled  the  left  side  of  the  little  church 
at  Blercourt.  The  other  half  was  filled 
with  high  French  officers  including  the 


226    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Medecin  Directeur,  who  carries  the  rank 
of  a  two-star  General.  Andrew  sat  with 
them.  "Huts"  and  the  other  American 
Lieutenants  were  grouped  together.  The 
choir,  made  up  of  good  French  singers, 
picked  from  the  Division,  sang  *'  La  Mort  '* 
—  a  singularly  fitting  tribute  as  the  acci- 
dent occurred  near  the  famous  hill  of  that 
name. 

The  coffin  was  surrounded  with  funeral 
wreaths  sent  by  the  various  officers,  the 
"brancardiers,"  the  hospitals,  and  the 
various  Sections.  Over  it  was  the  French 
flag  and  a  heap  of  the  little  purple  cro- 
cuses which  have  come  up  so  strangely 
for  the  second  time  this  autumn.  They 
looked  like  a  heap  of  orchids.  On  a  pillow 
carried  by  Section  4's  American  Lieuten- 
ant was  a  little  American  flag,  such  as  the 
ambulances  carry,  and  on  it  was  pinned 
the  Croix  de  Guerre  with  a  gold  star. 

After  the  coffin  had  been  carried  from 
the  church  to  the  grave  by  six  French 
"poilus"  in  full  accouterments  as  a  mark 
of  honor,  and  the  priest  was  through,  the 
General  stepped  up  and  paid  a  wonderful 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       227 

tribute  to  the  American  volunteers,  ad- 
dressing Andrew,  who  was  crying.  In 
fact,  even  some  of  the  Frenchmen  cried. 
It  was  a  speech  one  could  never  forget. 
Some  of  us  afterwards  went  over  to  the 
hospital  to  see  Sanders;  but  he  was  in  a 
state  of  coma  and  could  n't  recognize  any 
one.  He  had  been  already  trepanned  twice, 
and  they  were  waiting  until  he  could  get 
a  little  strength,  to  extract  the  bad  piece 
in  the  back  of  his  head.  The  danger  lies 
in  the  possibility  of  infection  before  he 
gets  enough  strength  to  stand  the  opera- 
tion. 

William  W.  Wallace,  who  washed  Kelly's 
brains  out  of  Sanders's  car,  told  Roche 
and  me  the  story  of  the  accident.  Kelly 
was  new.  He  had  been  at  the  Section  only 
five  or  six  days  and  had  not  even  been 
assigned  a  car.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most 
pathetic  things  about  it  was  that  his 
mates  did  n't  know  his  first  name,  even, 
and  I  had  to  get  it  from  their  Lieutenant. 
He  was  taken  by  Sanders  as  orderly  to 
see  the  advance  post  at  Esnes,  on  the 
side  of  Hill  304,  near  the  Mort  Homme. 


228    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

There  had  been  nothing  doing  there  for 
a  month  or  more.  In  fact  all  the  fighting 
was  on  the  right  bank,  around  Fleury 
and  the  Froide-Terre.  So  that,  barring 
the  customary  shelling,  it  was  practically 
a  quiet  Sector.  W^ell,  they  got  within 
a  hundred  yards  of  the  "abri,"  when  the 
shell  burst  on  the  road  about  ten  feet 
in  front  of  the  car.  It  blew  in  the  radia- 
tor, but  otherwise  did  not  injure  the 
car.  Kelly  received  the  charge  full  in  the 
head.  Sanders  was  only  hit  by  three 
small  "eclats, "  two  of  which  cut  his  cheeks 
and  neck.  The  third  entered  his  mouth, 
and  breaking  his  left  teeth  lodged  in  the 
left  side  of  his  skull,  where  it  still  is.  The 
force  had  been  checked  by  the  steering 
wheel  which  was  first  hit  by  all  three 
** eclats."  Sanders  was  able  to  stop  the 
car  and  walk  about  halfway  to  the  "abri " 
calling,  before  he  fell.  Gooch,  who  had  ar- 
rived a  few  minutes  before,  heard  a  "bran- 
cardier"  shouting  for  a  stretcher  and  got 
one  out  of  his  car.  Not  until  he  actually 
got  a  lantern  and  saw  Sanders,  did  he 
know  that  any  of  our  men  had  been  hurt. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       229 

He  asked  Sanders  about  Kelly  and  San- 
ders gasped  out,  "Kelly's  dead,"  and 
then  fainted. 

September  27.  "Huts"  and  I,  after  the 
funeral,  went  over  to  Bar-le-Duc  and 
fetched  up  Tison,^  who  came  across  about 
the  same  time  I  did,  and  was  sent  to  Sec- 
tion 3.  When  Section  3  was  picked  for 
Salonika,  Tison  could  n't  go,  as  he  had  to 
get  back  to  the  States  by  the  first  of  the 
year.  So  he  comes  to  us  to  take  the  place 
of  one  of  our  three  who  are  going  to  Sa- 
lonika. They  leave  shortly.  We  gave  Im- 
brie  and  Francklyn  a  sort  of  farewell  sup- 
per last  night.  They  are  going  to  be  a  great 
loss.  Tison  is  a  good  fellow,  however.  Only 
about  six  feet  four  inches  high.  When 
he,  Culby,  and  Roche  come  into  a  cafe, 
the  whole  conversation  stops.  Everybody 
turns  to  see  the  giants.  Pity  we  have  n't 
still  got  Lathrop.  There  'd  be  twenty-five 
feet  of  America  represented  by  four  men. 

September  28.  On  twenty-four  hour 
"poste"  duty  at  "Le  Chalet,"  the  evacu- 
ating post  for  the  "Four  de  Paris"  and 

*  Paul  Tison,  Harvard;  New  York  City. 


230    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

*'La  Fille  Morte."  I  went  up  to  the  front 
lines  to  have  a  look  at  the  Boches.  In  one 
*'poste  d'ecoute"  we  were  within  four 
or  five  yards  of  the  Germans,  they  told 
me;  but  there  was  nothing  to  hear  or  see, 
so  we  came  away.  Except  for  a  few  rifle 
shots,  scattered  through  the  woods,  and 
an  occasional  aerial  torpedo,  fired  from  the 
little  trench  mortars  called  "crapouillots," 
which  throw  about  a  hundred  pounds 
of  dynamite  some  eight  hundred  yards, 
everything  was  quiet.  The  battle-line, 
however,  was  very  definitely  marked  by 
the  blasting  away  of  every  trace  of  vege- 
tation. The  thick  woods  and  under- 
growth stop  suddenly,  and  one  comes  to 
nothing  but  bare  rocks,  and  earth,  and 
stumps  of  trees.  It  looks  as  if  some  great 
flood  or  fire  had  swept  along  a  perfectly 
defined  line  across  the  country,  in  a  path 
about  a  mile  wide.  Last  night  I  was 
awakened  by  the  car  shaking  as  if  some 
one  was  rocking  it.  I  thought  at  first  that 
they  had  a  call  forme,  but  looked  out  and 
found  nothing.  This  morning  I  was  told 
that  the  Boches  had  exploded  a  big  mine 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY   231 

up  the  ravine.  Mines  make  practically  no 
noise  —  just  a  sort  of  muffled  detonation; 
but  the  earth  shakes  for  miles. 

The  "Genie"  are  certainly  sincere  liquor 
artists.  We  eat  with  them  at  the  Chalet 
Poste,  and  they  do  their  best  to  entertain 
us.  Most  of  the  men  have  been  in  this 
one  place  for  a  year  or  more  burrowing 
like  moles.  They  say  their  little  motto 
is,  "Mangez  beaucoup,  buvez  beaucoup, 
dormez  beaucoup,  et  travaillez  pen!"  We 
have  their  keg  of  Pinard  filled  for  them  at 
La  Grange  every  day. 

Old  "Wilkins"  Wilson,  who  has  a  per- 
fectly good  sense  of  humor,  has  doped 
out  a  schedule  of  simple  phrases  with  their 
English  translation  for  use  at  the  "  postes." 
He  is  going  to  hang  up  a  copy  in  each 
"poste,"  and  they  run  something  like 
this:  — 

Will  you  come  to  lunch? 

Have  you  had  enough? 

Will  you  have  a  drink? 

Will  you  have  another? 

Will  you  take  the  Pinard  barrel  to  be  filled? 

Is  the  Pinard  barrel  empty? 

Yes,  the  Pinard  barrel  is  empty. 


232    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

September  30.  The  Salonikans  left  to- 
day and  Francklyn  took  little  "Vic"  with 
him,  which  I  think  almost  peeved  Section 
1  as  much  as  the  loss  of  the  men.  Fond  as 
they  were  of  "Gillies"  and  Bob,  "Vic" 
had  come  to  be  considered  our  mascot  and 
knew  us  all  well.  He  would  associate  with 
no  one  else.  Peter  Avard  picked  him  up  at 
Vic-sur-Aisne,  about  a  year  ago,  when  he 
was  only  a  few  weeks  old,  and  some  one 
always  took  the  pup  up  to  the  firing-lines 
in  a  car,  riding  cheerfully  on  the  front  seat 
or  on  the  hood.  The  "poilus"  and  "bran- 
cardiers"  all  knew  him  and  patted  and 
fed  him.  I  believe  "Vic"  has  been  under 
fire  more  often  than  any  one  of  us  ex- 
cepting possibly  "Huts"  and  the  "Loot." 
When  Pete  left  the  Section  he  left  the  dog 
under  Francklyn 's  care,  so  that  he  got  to 
be  regarded  as  Gyles's  pup.  We  have  lost 
most  of  our  menagerie.  Only  the  brown 
mutt,  who  looks  like  the  result  of  a 
mesalliance  between  a  cockroach  and  a 
seal,  remains.  The  "Loot "  calls  him 
"Flip"  and  claims  he  is  a  pointer!  Ned 
Townsend  is  down  with  diphtheria  and 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       233 

left  to-day  for  the  Bar-le-Duc  Hospital. 
This  leaves  us  four  men  shy,  but  as  there 
is  nothing  to  do,  except  the  two  *'poste" 
runs  and  an  occasional  "bureau"  call,  we 
can  afford  to  lie  low  and  look  over  the  new 
men  carefully  before  picking  any. 

October  1.  Vic  White  left  to-day;  the 
worst  loss  since  "Woody."  We  gave  him 
a  dinner  last  night,  but  it  was  not  a  par- 
ticularly cheerful  function.  The  squad  is 
certainly  being  shot  to  pieces.  Since  I 
joined  last  March  it  has  lost  some  half- 
dozen  men  and  has  only  three  left  from  the 
days  of  Dunkerque  and  Ypres,  a  year 
and  a  half  ago. 

I  went  over  to  La  Controllerie  with 
Eddy  Sponagle  in  the  "camion"  to-day, 
to  carry  a  load  of  gas  masks  to  Rare- 
court,  just  beyond  the  two  ruined  towns  of 
Les  Islettes  and  Clermont.  The  church 
spire  at  the  former  was  just  touched  by  a 
shell  and  leans  over  in  a  drunken  sort  of 
way  like  a  child's  broken  toy.  Clermont 
is  beautiful  in  its  desolation,  and  nature 
is  already  busy  covering  the  ruins  with 
ivy  and  other  creepers,  although  the  shell" 


234    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

ing  only  occurred  last  February  at  the 
opening  of  the  Boche  drive  on  Verdun, 
both  towns  being  on  one  of  the  "ravitaille- 
ment"  roads  leading  there.  Now  the  ruins 
are  toned  down  and  the  autumn  foliage  is 
very  beautiful.  By  the  time  the  ubiqui- 
tous American  tourist  comes  camera-snap- 
ping and  souvenir-hunting,  however,  na- 
ture will  have  hidden  much  of  the  stark 
harshness  still  to  be  seen.  The  handsome 
church  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  reached  by  a 
long  flight  of  some  hundred  or  more  wide 
stone  steps,  is  completely  gutted ;  and  the 
fine  stucco  work  and  stained-glass  windows 
litter  the  floor.  From  there  we  could  eas- 
ily see  the  lines  five  miles  away  and  the 
shells  bursting. 

October  3.  Bowman  changed  his  mind 
about  Salonika,  and  Baylies  gets  his  chance 
to  go.  Everybody  is  sorry  to  lose  him  — ■ 
a  good  boy,  good-tempered,  standing  all 
the  chaffing  in  a  really  fine  way. 

We  were  inspected  for  contagious  and 
infectious  diseases  to-day. 

Some  of  the  fellows  had  an  amusing  time 
up  at  La  Chalade  Poste  the  other  day. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY        235 

They  got  to  swapping  hunting  yarns  with 
the  doctors  and  "brancardiers."  Little 
told  them  of  a  wonderful  animal  in  the 
States.  Its  habitat  was  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains and  it  was  called  the  "Flipodoodle." 
It  has  two  of  its  legs  on  one  side  shorter 
than  the  others,  so  that  it  could  walk  on 
the  sides  of  mountains,  but  it  could,  of 
course,  go  only  one  way.  He  told  it  so 
solemnly  that  the  Frenchmen  believed  it, 
until  Vic,  later,  overdid  the  story.  They 
asked  him  if  it  were  true,  and  he  said 
"yes"  he  had  seen  the  animal;  that  the 
male  always  had  two  females  because  they 
could  only  give  birth  to  one  and  a  half 
offspring  apiece  and  the  halves  had  to  be 
joined  together  afterwards.  He  added  that 
it  was  the  only  animal  known  to  man 
which  was  larger  at  birth  than  at  any  other 
time.  This  offended  the  medical  sense 
of  the  doctors  and  they  got  sore.  Vic 
saw  that  and  added,  "Well,  I  guess  you 
won't  believe  I  saw  the  devil  once?" 
"When?"  they  exclaimed.  "Thirty-five 
years  ago , "  said  Vic .  ' '  How  old  are  you  ? ' ' 
they  queried  incredulously.  "Just  twent- 


236    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

four,"  replied  Vic.  "You  can  believe  one 
tale  as  much  as  the  other."  Then  they 
all  laughed  and  said  the  drinks  were  on 
them. 

October  5.  I  went  to  Chalons  with 
Sponagle,  De  Mare,  and  Bonat,  in  the 
"camion,"  for  "ravitaillement."  Bonat 
bought  lunch  and  it  sure  was  a  good  one. 
We  had  a  bath  and  altogether  a  fine  day. 
A  "sous-officier"  up  at  the  "poste"  tells 
me  he  has  been  playing  chess  with  the 
Boches.  They  call  the  moves  across  the 
few  intervening  feet,  and  they  have  a  per- 
fectly good  time,  mutually  cutting  out 
the  hand-grenades. 

We  got  a  letter  to-day  addressed  from 
one  of  the  "nuts"  on  "permission"  down 
in  Paris  to  Section  "  Solitaire  "  Americaine, 
and  nothing  else.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  the  postal  authorities  saw  the  point 
and  delivered  it!  As  old  "Doc"  Wilkins 
would  say,  "Rauther  good,  eh,  wot?  I 
should  say  so,  don't  ye  know!  Yes,  bah 
Jove!" 

October  6.  I  was  passing  along  the  road 
when  I  heard  some  "kids"  singing  an  air 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY        237 

which  seemed  famiHar.  I  stopped  and 
listened,  and  sure  enough!  they  were 
singing:  — 

"  Yip  hayaddi,  hayah  hyo 
Yip  hayaddi  hayay, 
I  don't  care  what  becomes  of  me,**  etc. 

They  evidently  learned  it  from  some 
passing  British  troops  or  some  itinerant 
American  "Ambulancier." 

October  7.  On  "poste"  duty  at  La 
Chalade.  The  "poste"  is  in  the  old  abbey; 
a  fine  historic  building  of  large  size.  The 
men  have  been  finding  old  coins  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  in 
odd  corners  of  the  place.  The  Boches  shell 
it  occasionally,  and  it  has  been  hit  a  num- 
ber of  times,  but  is  still  in  fair  shape. 

Pons,  the  little  one-stripe  doctor,  tried 
to  pull  one  on  the  two  priests  at  dinner. 
He  produced  two  bottles  labeled  "Pom- 
mard."  One  was  just  plain  Pinard,  the 
other  Chateau  Margaut.  The  Pinard  was 
served  first,  but  the  priests  were  polite  and 
said  it  was  very  nice,  but  not  a  "grand 
cru."  Then  he  opened  the  Bordeaux,which 
was  real,  and  they  told  the  difference  at 


238    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

once.  One  can't  fool  those  old  fellows. 
They  declared  it  promptly  not  even  Bur- 
gundy, but  Bordeaux. 

October  8.  Two  new  men  turned  up  to- 
day. One  is  the  son  of  former  Mayor  Gay- 
nor,  the  other  Newberry,  also  of  New 
York.  They  seem  pretty  good  fellows,  but 
they  certainly  did  n't  expect  much  rough 
living.  Both  are  accustomed  to  the  simple 
New  York  life,  and  they  don't  know  how 
to  make  a  camp  bed  or  even  wind  their 
putties.  However,  they  look  as  if  they  'd 
turn  out  all  right. 

October  9.  Wandering  through  the  ceme- 
tery here  at  La  Grange  aux  Bois,  the  name 
Du  Pont  caught  my  eye  on  one  of  the  new 
war  crosses.  No  less  then  three  were  bur- 
ied here  in  the  last  year  —  Joseph,  Joseph 
Henry,  and  Ernest.  I  wonder  if  they  are 
any  relation  to  our  Du  Fonts.  Also  Louis 
Martin  was  buried  there  —  it  sounds  like 
the  old  New  York  restaurateur.  The  sol- 
diers have  made  ingenious  crosses  out  of 
*'75"  cases;  and  the  central  cemetery 
cross  is  made  of  wood  wrought  in  a  gi- 
gantic replica  of  the  Croix  de  Guerre. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       239 

October  11.  Culby  got  shot  at  up  at  the 
Fille  Morte  Poste  this  morning  by  a  sniper 
in  a  tree.  The  bullet  hit  quite  close  to  him 
while  he  was  standing  on  the  little  bridge 
looking  up  the  ravine.  This,  and  the 
shelling  of  "  Doc  "  Keenan's  car  (Section  4) , 
near  where  Kelly  was  killed,  are  the  first 
definite  instances  I  know  of  where  the 
Boches  deliberately  have  fired  on  the 
American  Ambulance.  Of  course  they 
often  shell  places  where  we  happen  to  be, 
but  they  are  not  after  such  small  fry  as 
a  rule.  News  came  to-day,  by  the  way, 
that  our  old  Caserne  Marceau  Poste  de 
Secours,  under  Souville,  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  shells.  We  had  a  hunch  it  would 
be,  if  they  kept  piling  sand  bags  on  top  of 
it,  as  it  was  beginning  to  assume  the  as- 
pect of  a  regular  redoubt.  The  "poste" 
has  been  moved  about  a  half-mile  down 
the  hill  to  the  railway  crossing. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt's  sheepskin  coats  ar- 
rived to-day  and  were  hailed  with  grate- 
ful hurrahs!  They  can  start  fighting  in 
the  Arctic  now,  as  far  as  the  American 
Ambulance  is  concerned. 


240    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

October  13.  For  some  strange  reason 
the  sun  came  out  yesterday,  so  the  "  breth- 
ren" jumped  at  the  chance  to  dry  out 
blankets,  shoes,  and  bags.  Darden  got  so 
energetic  that  he  set  to  work  making  a  rat- 
trap  —  a  most  elaborate  affair  which 
would  require  quite  a  high  order  of  intel- 
ligence on  the  part  of  the  rat  to  manage 
to  get  into.  He  explained,  in  his  funny 
Southern  drawl,  that  he  was  "gitten 
tiahd  of  havin'  dem  dawg-goned  animals 
conductin'  their  love  affairs  on  mah  baid !  '* 
The  trap,  however,  failed  to  work,  which 
was  explained  by  Darden  by  their  "bein* 
French,  they  probably  did  n't  understand 
an  American  trap!"  Culbertson  then 
went  to  Ste.  Menehould  and  purchased  a 
gigantic  wire  structure  which  he  carried 
all  around  town  with  him,  and  was  asked 
at  least  a  dozen  times  what  it  was  for. 
At  last  he  grew  tired  and  replied  to  an- 
other polite  inquiry  on  the  part  of  a  French 
officer  that  it  was  "pour  mon  canary 
oiseau!"  The  rats  had  a  fine  time  feeding 
in  it,  but  refused  to  remain  within  its 
handsome  portals. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       241 

October  14.  Lines  came  to-day.  He  used 
to  be  with  this  Section  at  Dunkerque.  He 
got  sick,  then  joined  Section  8,  and  got 
transferred  back  here.^  Jones,  Wallace, 
and  Walker  left  on  "permission."  Camp- 
bell is  made  "sous-chef"  in  place  of 
White. 

October  17.  The  "Genie"  crowd,  up  at 
Le  Chalet,  certainly  are  screams.  One 
engineer  was  complaining  at  dinner  last 
night  that  the  "poilus  "hogged  everything. 
He  said  he  had  only  just  completed  an 
"abri "  for  a  water  reservoir  and  had  come 
up  that  morning  to  install  the  tank,  when 
he  found  two  infantrymen  asleep  in  it  with 
the  place  converted  into  a  regular  home  — 
lamps,  flooring,  and  beds.  He  went  to 
where  he  was  to  install  his  3  H.P.  gas 
engine  and  pumps,  and  here  were  two 
more  completely  at  home,  and  also  sleep- 
ing. He  said  he  didn't  disturb  them  until 
he  was  ready  to  put  his  stuff  in  place. 

The  regular  Le  Chalet  cook  has  gone 
on  "permission"  and  the  meals  are  at- 

*  Howard  B.  Lines  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  graduate 
of  Dartmouth.   Since  died. 


242    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER, 

tended  to  by  a  chemist,  who  knows  noth- 
ing whatever  about  cooking.  They  are 
something  fierce.  However,  I  bought  some 
eggs  and  tomatoes,  when  I  had  a  run 
down  to  Les  Islettes,  and  cooked  them  for 
myself. 

They  threw  torpedoes  at  each  other  all 
day  yesterday  and  the  earth  continually 
trembled.  Some  of  them  hold  as  much  as 
a  hundred  kilos  of  dynamite  and  other  high 
explosives.  One  does  n't  hear  them  com- 
ing and  the  firing  of  the  little  "crapouil- 
lots"  is  scarcely  more  than  a  yacht  can- 
non; but  one  can  occasionally  see  them  in 
the  air,  as  they  fly  comparatively  slowly. 
*' Eclats"  fell  all  around  the  "poste"  con- 
tinually, yet  the  things  were  landing  two 
or  three  hundred  yards  away. 

October  21.  The  Boches  have  been  try- 
ing out  a  new  type  of  shell  around  La 
Chalade  lately.  Kurtz  saw  one  explode 
near  the  road.  It  blew  a  hole  in  the  earth 
about  twenty  feet  across  and  from  that 
came  dozens  of  smaller  shells  which  ex- 
ploded over  a  radius  of  thirty  or  forty 
yards  —  a  sort  of  huge  shrapnel. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       243 

Four  of  the  famous  tanks  came  in  near 
here  the  other  day,  and  are  to  be  used 
in  a  new  offensive  at  Verdun,  so  it  is  said. 
They  look  hke  huge  eggs  with  the  cater- 
pillar strips  going  all  the  way  round  them, 
and  they  carry  two  "soixante-quinzes" 
as  well  as  mitrailleuses.  The  French 
also  have  developed  several  types  of  air 
guns  firing  small  torpedoes,  varying  from 
about  the  size  of  a  hand-grenade  to  that  of 
a  good-sized  bomb.  They  fool  the  Boches 
as  to  the  direction  from  which  they  are 
coming  and  can  therefore  be  operated  al- 
most without  interference. 

October  22.  The  Boches  dropped  a  num- 
ber of  shells  on  La  Chalade  Poste  when  I 
was  there  yesterday  morning.  A  pane  of 
glass  above  me,  hit  by  an  "eclat,"  fell  on 
my  head  while  I  sat  outside  writing  a  letter. 
I  don't  know  whether  it  is  lucky  or  not 
to  have  that  happen.  For  a  moment  I  felt 
as  if  I  were  in  one  of  those  kaleidoscopes 
of  childhood's  happy  days.  About  a  buck- 
etful of  colored  glass  came  scattering  all 
around.  It  is  like  getting  religion  thrust 
upon  one,  so  to  speak.    Two  shells  came 


244    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

very  close  to  the  car,  and  a  man  standing 
near  got  an  "eclat"  in  the  casque  which 
just  saved  his  "nut."  The  casque  was  all 
crushed.  Another  fellow  had  a  small  bit 
cut  his  hand.  It  was  rather  nervous  work 
for  the  half -hour  they  kept  coming  in,  as 
there  was  no  cave  worthy  of  the  name, 
so  we  just  stood  around  and  joked  and 
hoped  for  the  best.  In  the  afternoon  came 
a  warning  of  a  coming  gas  attack.  The 
French  had  been  giving  the  Boches  hot 
work  all  day  after  the  episode  of  the  shell- 
ing of  the  abbey,  and  as  the  wind  was 
right,  the  expectation  was  that  the 
"  Germs  "  would  retaliate  with  gas.  So  we 
got  out  our  masks  and  waited  up  until 
about  10  P.M.,  and  as  nothing  happened 
we  all  went  to  bed. 

October  24.  I  arrived  in  Paris  on  "per- 
mission" with  Roche.  I  got  a  "jolt"  the 
moment  I  struck  Rue  Raynouard.  The 
authorities  had  confiscated  all  souvenirs, 
dozens  of  different  kinds  of  shells,  shrap- 
nel, and  the  rest;  and  a  complete  set  of 
Boche  casques  I  got  for  father.  Hard 
luck. 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       245 

October  26.  I  ran  into  Neilson  Warden; 
also  into  "Bob"  Glendinning  and  *'Doc  '* 
McCIoskey.  The  two  last  are  over  here 
arranging  for  the  graduates  of  "  Bob's" 
aviation  school  to  be  taken  into  the  French 
army,  without  having  to  pass  the  long  pre- 
liminary wait.  He  tells  me  they  turned 
down  Antelo  Devereux  and  some  others, 
who  were  fully  competent.  I  also  ran  across 
Carson,^  who  used  to  be  in  Section  1  and 
then  went  to  the  Paris  Squad.  He  returned 
to  Chicago  and  tells  the  same  old  story 
of  not  being  able  to  stand  the  banalities  at 
home.  He  says  he  was  passing  along  the 
street  one  day  and  his  eye  caught  the  sign 
*'S.S.  Rochambeau,  sails  September  2d." 
He  went  in  and  bought  his  ticket  right  off 
the  reel.  He  is  in  the  Paris  Squad  now,  but 
wants  to  shift  back  to  the  Field  Service. 

October  27.  I  spent  a  solid  hour  last  eve- 
ning trying  to  get  a  taxi  to  get  to  Ewell's. 
Everything  was  busy.  Paris  is  certainly 
livening  up.  Finally,  about  8.15  I  got 
hold  of  a  fool  Hollander  or  Belgian  who 
got  me  entirely  lost.    So  I  never  reached 

*  James  L.  Carson  of  Chicago. 


246    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

there.  I  had  to  write  him  a  long  apology 
which,  of  course,  he  won't  believe.  I  ran 
into  Parsons,  all  "dolled  up"  in  his  new 
aviation  uniform.  He's  at  Pau.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  he  was  ditched  with  the 
old  Daimler  "  camion,"  and  Fentonand  I 
went  out  to  fix  him  up.  I  also  saw  Ay  ton, 
who  has  gone  into  the  Aviation  Service, 
just  lately.  I  called  to  see  Sanders.  He's 
wonderfully  cheerful,  considering  his  face 
is  going  to  be  somewhat  disfigured.  They 
took  forty  small  pieces  of  "eclat"  out  of 
his  head  in  all;  only  three  large  ones,  the 
rest  dust. 

October  31.  "Woody"  and  George  End 
turned  up  to-day,  and  "Huts"  came 
down  from  our  place  on  his  "permission." 
We  had  quite  a  reunion.  Both  "Woody" 
and  End  are  going  to  rejoin,  which  helps. 
I  had  feared  Woodworth  would  go  into 
the  Aviation  Service. 

November  3.  I  am  back  at  La  Grange 
aux  Bois,  with  a  nasty  cold.  It's  lucky 
there  is  nothing  to  do,  anyway.  I  have 
just  discovered  that  one  of  the  members 
of  the  English  Ambulance  Corps,  operat- 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       247 

ing  in  the  Sector  next  to  ours,  is  no  less 
a  person  than  Jerome  K.  Jerome,  of 
"Three  Men  in  a  Boat"  fame. 

An  epidemic  of  boils  and  carbuncles 
seems  to  have  struck  Section  1.  Old 
*'Doc"  Wilson  had  one  cut  out  of  his 
arm:  *' Awfully  awkward,  don't  ye  know.'* 
Culby  had  a  sort  of  Csesarian  operation 
on  his  stomach;  and  Townsend  has  several 
where  he  sits.  Tison  has  chronic  indi- 
gestion, and  the  rest  with  varying  degrees 
of  colds  and  dysentery.  A  fine  line  of 
warriors  we  all  are  just  now! 

November  4.  We  have  moved  from  the 
barracks  into  rooms  in  the  village  where 
we  can  have  at  least  dry  feet  and  a  modi- 
cum of  warmth.  The  only  trouble  is  that 
the  rooms  are  relatively  small,  and  one 
has  to  listen  all  day  long  to  a  lot  of  drivel 
from  our  war  tacticians.  A  new  man, 
Tyson,  from  Philadelphia,  arrived  to-day 
to  take  Newberry's  place  who  is  sick  and 
going  home. 

November  7.  It  is  certainly  interesting 
to  hear  the  *'  Genie  "  discussing  their  work. 
One  fellow  told  me  what  a  bawling-out  he 


248    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

got,  when  he  was  putting  a  temporary 
bridge  on  the  Somme  and  let  the  water 
out  of  the  canal-draw,  to  facilitate  the 
driving  of  piles  on  the  canal  bottom.  An 
irate  Fusilier  de  Marine  Captain  and  a  lot 
of  his  men  came  up  cursing  like  madmen. 
It  appeared  that  his  action  had  dropped 
the  level  of  the  canal  all  the  way  along  a 
foot  or  more  and  the  gun  bores  had  en- 
tirely lost  their  aim,  all  elevations  having 
thus  been  altered.  He  said  a  madder  lot 
of  men  he  never  saw.  Talking  of  their 
work  here  at  Le  Chalet,  he  said  they  often 
suddenly  found  themselves  in  the  Boche 
diggings,  but  that  both  sides  took  good 
care  not  to  start  anything.  He  predicts, 
however,  that  there  will  be  something 
doing  here  before  long;  all  telephone  wires 
are  being  buried  and  deep  "abris"  are 
being  dug.  He  also  says  the  Eightieth 
have  been  ordered  to  take  certain  positions 
near  La  Chalade. 

November  10.  Nobody  seems  to  know 
who  is  elected  President  and  nobody  cares 
very  much  here.  The  two  candidates  are 
regarded  as  about  fifty-fifty.  I  had  a  funny 


THE   BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       249 

experience  this  morning.  I  was  taking  the 
Medecin  Major  to  Rarecourt,  when  the 
sentry  at  Les  Islettes  asked  for  the  pass- 
word. We  yelled  "Jena,"  but  did  n't  stop 
altogether  —  just  slowed  up.  The  sentry 
did  n't  like  that,  and  slammed  his  bayonet 
straight  at  the  "Doc,"  who  was  sitting 
beside  me.  The  thing  went  clean  through 
the  woodwork  of  the  car  and  wrenched  out 
a  piece  the  size  of  one's  hand.  The  "  Doc  " 
got  out  and  "laid  into"  that  sentry  in 
great  style,  took  his  name  and  number  and 
turned  it  in  to  the  Captain.  Every  now 
and  then  one  hits  up  against  some  fool 
like  that. 

Mrs.  Audenried  sent  us  up  a  complete 
outfit  of  fine  fur-lined  leather  gauntlets; 
"bonne  nouvelle,"  as  it's  getting  mighty 
cold.  They  shelled  La  Chalade  again 
to-day;  Kurtz  was  on  "poste"  and  every- 
body had  to  go  to  the  cellar. 

November  12.  The  apotheosis  of  the  fu- 
tility of  human  endeavor  seems  to  me  to 
be  the  work  of  the  Sappers  and  "Genie'* 
around  here.  A  couple  of  days  ago  a  French 
tuntiel  broke  through  into  a  Boche  tunnel. 


250    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

Both  were  completely  taken  by  surprise 
and  simply  withdrew  and  each  blocked 
up  his  own  tunnel.  Then  yesterday,  the 
Bodies  thought  they'd  pull  a  stunt,  so 
they  opened  up  a  small  hole  in  the  tempo- 
rary walls,  sneaked  in,  and  nabbed  two 
French  miners  who  were  quietly  sitting 
eating  breakfast,  and  made  them  prisoners. 
The  French  got  sore,  and  by  way  of  re- 
taliation to-day  blew  up  the  whole  bloody 
business.  So  now  both  sides  have  to  start 
digging  all  over  again.  I  suppose  the  main 
idea  is  to  keep  the  men  busy,  to  prevent 
their  dying  of  ennui. 

November  13.  Letters  from  Baylies  and 
Imbrie.  They  must  have  had  an  awful 
time  getting  to  Salonika.  They  were  put 
in  the  hold  with  eight  hundred  Annamites, 
nearly  all  of  whom  were  seasick.  Sortwell 
was  killed  by  a  truck  when  they  reached 
there;  and  George  End,  who  was  coming 
back  to  us,  has  sailed  to  take  his  place. 

November  14.  I  certainly  take  my  hat 
off  to  the  women  of  France.  Nothing 
fazes  them.  Kurtz  and  I  walked  into  Ste. 
Menehould  yesterday  and  stopped  in  the 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       251 

"patisserie"  for  some  cakes  and  port. 
While  we  were  there  the  Boches  began 
tossing  "380's"  into  the  town,  trying  for 
the  railway  station.  The  huge  craters  and 
terrific  explosions  shook  the  whole  place; 
yet  the  little  girl  serving  us  cakes  merely 
laughed  and  said,  "The  Boches  are  hating 
us  very  much  to-day,  n'est  ce  pas,  Mes- 
sieurs!" The  newspapers  mentioned  the 
incident  this  morning.  The  gun  (an  Aus- 
trian Skoda)  was  no  less  than  thirty-six 
kilometers  away !  They  luckily  did  n't 
hurt  anything,  most  of  them  landing  in  the 
field  just  about  a  hundred  yards  away 
from  the  station.  One  lit  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  barracks  on  the  hill  and  it  looked 
like  a  sort  of  volcano  in  eruption,  but  that 
did  no  damage  either. 

November  15.  They  shelled  Ste.  Mene- 
hould  again  to-day.  One  big  fellow  fell 
right  in  the  center  of  the  road  in  front 
of  the  station,  knocking  out  all  the  win- 
dows for  a  block  and  wounding  two  sol- 
diers. The  hospital  has  been  closed  and 
we  now  take  the  wounded  to  Villers- 
Deaucourt. 


252    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

November  18.  Gaynor  left  to-day :  nerves 
in  bad  shape.  The  new  men  keep  pUing 
in  —  about  ten  of  them  now,  and  more 
coming.  Everybody  was  sorry  to  see  Sam 
Jones  go.  He  is  entering  the  Aviation 
Service.  Heavy  ice  everywhere  to-day  and 
a  light  fall  of  snow.  Starting  the  car  is 
some  job  these  days. 

November  20.  I  took  a  walk  with  Sam 
Walker,  and  saw  the  great  cemetery  of 
the  "  Defenders  of  the  Argonne*' — a  place 
on  the  side  of  the  hill  back  of  Ste.  Mene- 
hould  as  large  as  Laurel  Hill  with  most 
of  the  little  wooden  crosses  marking 
trenches  of  bodies,  not  single  mounds;  next 
to  it  was  a  small  graveyard  with  crosses 
over  the  mounds,  but  no  names.  These 
were  what  was  left  of  those  caught  and 
shot  as  spies  or  as  deserters  or  for  self- 
mutilation  in  order  to  get  away  from  the 
fighting. 

November  22.  Some  one  is  constantly 
having  fun  at  the  expense  of  P.  and  R., 
neither  of  whom  knows  much  about  cars. 
The  other  day  R.  had  a  miss  in  one  of  his 
cylinders  and  could  n't  fix  it.  He  went  to 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       253 

Sponagle,  who  gravely  asked  him  if  he'd 
greased  his  fan  belt.  R.  bit  and  spent  an 
hour  doing  that!  P.  is  very  proud  of  a 
brass  radiator,  which,  instead  of  painting 
the  usual  gray,  he  polishes  assiduously 
with  regular  brass  polish.  Yesterday 
Wallace  painted  "Nuts"  in  large  letters 
on  it  which  nearly  broke  P.'s  heart  when  he 
noticed  it.  Ever  since  he  has  been  scraping 
and  polishing  away  to  reinstate  it  in  its 
pristine  glory.  This  morning  somebody 
had  hung  the  "Feuillee"  sign  on  R.'s  car 
while  he  was  sitting  in  it  writing,  and  he 
could  n't  understand  why  every  passer- 
by roared  with  laughter  at  him. 

November  27.  My  last  day  in  the  War 
Zone,  and  I  happened  to  draw  the  Fille 
Morte  Poste!  Sort  of  hard  luck.  The 
"Loot"  offered  to  replace  me,  but  it 
would  n't  have  looked  well  before  the  new 
men,  so  here  I  am  planted  for  twenty-four 
hours,  and  now  I  may  miss  the  morning 
train  to  Paris,  going  down  with  Tison, 
Wallace,  and  Walker,  all  of  whom  are 
leaving  for  home.  Culby  is  waiting  for  us 
in  Paris.  Roche  leaves  next  week,  so  that 


254    AT  THE   FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

poor  old  "Huts"  will  have  practically  a 
new  Section  to  break  in.  The  Boches  are 
shooting  *'  77  "  shrapnel  over  us  and  trying 
for  the  little  railway  back  of  us.  General 
Bouchezcame  up  in  his  car  to  the" poste. " 
His  chauffeur  tells  me  that  he  just  missed 
being  killed  yesterday  and  the  glass  in  the 
car  was  broken  by  an  "eclat."  Great  ex- 
citement was  caused  by  a  cavalry  oflScer 
trying  to  cross  a  swamp  down  below  us. 
He  got  bogged,  and  they  spent  an  hour 
trying  to  get  the  horse  out.  The  Boches, 
seeing  the  group  of  men,  started  shelling 
again,  but  failed  to  come  within  fifty  yards 
of  them. 

It's  astonishing  how  everybody  trusts 
everybody  else.  The  Frenchmen  give  us 
money  to  buy  them  wine,  tobacco,  send 
telegrams,  and  so  on;  whereas  we  leave 
all  our  belongings  lying  around  loose  and 
they  never  touch  them.  Of  course,  it 
would  n't  be  safe  with  the  Senegalese,  or 
on  a  highway  where  troops  keep  passing, 
but  up  in  the  lines,  nobody  touches  any 
one  else's  things. 

November  9iS.     Poor  old  "Huts"  is  still 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       255 

sick;  but  he  got  up  out  of  bed  to  see  us 
off. 

December  2.  We  had  a  great  time  in 
Paris.  Andrew  came  to  see  us  off  at  the 
train. 

December  3.  The  Chicago  did  n't  start, 
of  course,  so  that  there  was  no  movement 
of  machinery  and  water  to  drown  any 
noise,  no  matter  how  trifling.  Most  of  the 
women  on  board  are  overworked  Red 
Cross  nurses  and  are  in  a  pretty  nerv- 
ous state.  C.  started  the  ball  rolling  by 
copying  in  his  sleep  the  sound  of  the  guns 
at  Verdun.  He  did  it  so  well  that  it  sent 
one  woman  into  hysterics  and  they  had 
to  wake  him  up.  Then  an  aviator  on 
twenty-one  days'  leave  proceeded  to  have 
a  nightmare.  Then  they  tell  me  I  called 
out  in  my  sleep,  "WTiat,  four  new  men 
up  and  only  one  going?  For  Heaven's 
sake!"  They  say  it  was  quite  distinct. 
Then  a  woman  began  copying  the  guns, 
entirely  unconsciously.  As  the  steward 
remarked,  "C'etait  rigolo." 

December  7.  Three  perfectly  clear  days, 
calm  as  a  lake:  no  warships  in  sight.   We 


256    AT  THE  FRONT  IN  A  FLIVVER 

have  a  marine  "100"  on  the  afterdeck 
for  Mr.  Submarine.  I  met  Vic  WTiite's 
sister:  awfully  jolly  girl. 

December  8.  Wireless  warning  received 
that  another  Boche  cruiser  is  loose  on 
the  Atlantic.  We  saw  what  looked  like 
a  submarine  in  the  distance.  It  may 
have  been  the  Deutschland.  We  kept  a 
gun  trained  on  her,  but  we  distanced  her. 
Weather  still  perfect:  wonderful  sunsets 
and  full  moon;  more  like  yachting  in  the 
South  Seas  than  on  the  Atlantic  in  mid- 
winter. 'T  is  so  warm  we  don't  wear  coats 
or  hats.    I  won  ship  hat-pool. 

December  9.  Miss  White  won  pool.  Sea 
rough  for  first  time.  Our  latest  citation 
is  before  the  Army  and  reads:  — 

Copy  of  "  Ordre  genSral  No  189  " 

Groupement  D.E.  £tat-Major,  au  Quartier  general. 

S.C.  No.  6611.    Le  1  novemhre,  1916. 

Le  General  Commandant  le  Groupement  D.E. 
cite  a  I'ordre  du  Corps  d'Armee: 
Section  Sanitaire  Americaine  No  1,  sous 
le  commandement  du  Lieutenant  Robert  de 
Kersauson  de  Pennendreff  et  de  I'ofEcier 
americain    Herbert    Townsend,  en    aoiit    et 


THE  BATTLE  FOR  FLEURY       257 

septembre,  1916,  a  assure  I'evacuation  des 
blesses  de  trois  Divisions  successivement  dans 
un  secteur  particulierement  dangereux;  a 
demande  comme  une  f aveur  de  conserver  ce 
service,  oil  officiers  et  conducteurs  on  fait 
preuve  du  plus  brillant  courage  et  du  plus  com- 
plet  devouement. 

(Signe) 

Le  General  Commandant  le  Groupement  D.E. 

Mangin. 


THE    END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


V 


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